


He Wrote a Horror Novel About Me, How Are You Going to Top That?

by BikeChanderson



Category: Glee
Genre: Abandonment, Abusive Relationship, Alternate Universe-Teacher/Parent, F/M, M/M, Mike is a man of many talents, Oh well!, Oops! Title gives some stuff away!, mentioned minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 12:11:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BikeChanderson/pseuds/BikeChanderson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine has one rule: Never befriend your student's parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lapifors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapifors/gifts).



> This work has not been beta'd. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes or the misuse of certain words, my brain thinks one thing and my hands type another. Also, make sure to point out when I slip out of present-tense, because I've been watching for that and I really don't want to screw it up.

Teaching at a public school introduced different forms of families and a plethora of belief systems. There were parents that would pack their child’s lunch full of every aspect of a three course meal, while other parents settled for PB and J with a chocolate bar on the side. Some parents made their kids dress in matching out fits-nice dresses, and sweater vests-while other’s let their kids pick out their clothes-skirts with jeans, mismatching colors, and printed tees. Blaine even found himself caught in the middle of a fight between two parents, one was a hardcore vegan while the other excused his son for a day to go hunting (they later settled their differences after Blaine told them that their children got married on the playground and that divorce was a messy business for children under the age of nine.)

After some dangerous situations in his first year of teaching, Blaine decided that befriending his student’s parents is unwise. He can be on good terms with them and laugh at their stupid jokes during parent-teacher conferences, but he will never consider any of them friends. It was something avoided at all cost for three years.

That was until he met Tina. She made herself known the week before school started by showing up at a PTA meeting with a white board and a megaphone. She was a little over the top about her issue with the school but Blaine admired her for it. They were both lucky that her daughter was going to be one of his new students, because she needed the school to provide and interpreter and he knew American Sign Language so well that he proudly stated that he was bilingual to anyone who would listen to him. He was lucky that their situation fit so nicely because he doesn’t want his school to be sued. He works there after all.

So Blaine has a standing rule that he doesn’t want to make friends and Tina is the exception. He finds that he can call her on weekdays to see if she can hang out or that she and Andrea, her daughter, will wait for him after class so he can join them for an early dinner, usually provided by Blaine. He is sure that most of the other parents suspect him of having a romantic agenda with Tina, but he knows that his authority figures see it merely as a friendship, knowing his sexuality because of previous incidences. Blaine has had other friends but none of them measured up to Tina, so he couldn’t stop a pleased grin when she first introduced him as her best friend without a pause.

Tina is so beautiful, powerful, and fiery that Blaine thinks that if he even remotely swayed toward the female gender he would be all kinds of attracted to her. From the looks of most of the dads, and some of the moms, that she passes in the halls, he can tell that he’s not the only one that sees her shocking beauty. Her daughter is following her mother’s genes with long flowing black hair that already reaches down to the end of her back. She has furious stances and demanding but teasing words.

But Andrea’s eyes are different from her mother’s. She has dark brown in her eyes that are larger and more expressive than Tina’s. She has calculating stares that she uses to full effect as she stares down opponents on the playground, bullies that had the audacity to make fun of her for being deaf. Her eyes tell Blaine when she is happy, sad, or angry at her peers’ teasing. They express how intelligent she is under her occasionally timid smiles. When he mentions this to her mother, he is told that she got her eyes from her dad, who is Chinese.

At first, that is the only real description that Blaine gets besides the fact that Andrea’s sign name for him is “Robot” which really makes Blaine wonder who the guy is and why he isn’t with his child and her mother. But Blaine keeps his mouth shut for once in his life and decides to respect the privacy that seems to surround the situation. However, it is evident that Tina and Andrea don’t hate the latter’s father.

Tina isn’t against mentioning Andrea’s father, but whenever the topic of Andrea’s birth comes up she does look hesitant and manages to switch the topic with a swish of her dark hair. Blaine doesn’t pry; he had a friend in during his high school days who was deaf and who had his mother leave a year after the accident that caused the boy’s deafness. Perhaps Andrea’s father had the same reaction to Andrea being born deaf? Or maybe he was never in the picture at all.

Two months into knowing the Cohen-Chang family, Blaine asks why Andrea calls her father “Robot” and her reply is a mischievous grin. She simply signs that she gave him that sign name because he was a robot. Duh! It isn’t a really good answer and he would ask Tina if he wasn’t afraid about bringing up something she doesn’t want to talk about. He asks Andrea a few more questions before she gives him a sign name. Much to his embarrassment she starts calling him “Curious Curls.” That certainly stops him from having such an eager expression. He doesn’t necessarily stop asking her questions, he just avoids the topic of her father entirely.

This Robot man is ultimately intriguing to Blaine, the way he would be intriguing to anyone that was the best friend of said Robot man’s ex?  True to his sign name, Blaine is a very curious person that has a lot of trouble keeping his mouth shut. His annoying need to ask questions has got him in trouble before. He does manage to be silent on the subject of this Robot man and Andrea’s birth, but he still loves to ask questions.

 

* * *

It is the middle of December, an hour and a half before the school should open, and the snow is falling down against the yellow-streaked morning sky so slowly outside the big glass windows of his classroom that he can’t help but watch flake after flake fall to the ground and add to the top layer or snow or melt away on the salted pavement by the parking lot. He jumps when the door flies open and Tina topples in with Andrea bouncing happily behind her.

“Hello, Blaine,” she says hurriedly, “I’m so glad you got my message.” Her face is red from the cold but her eyes are bright with excitement as she sighs and speaks rapidly again. “Thank you so much for doing this, I know you aren’t a baby sitter and that you are a teacher with a degree and everything. Don’t think I’m going to make this a routine.”

Blaine shakes his head and holds in a yawn before signing back to her, “It’s perfectly alright. I’m happy to help and Andrea needs to go over her math anyway,” he gives Andrea a stern look but quickly smiles at her.

Andrea looks as excited as her mom, jumping up and down so the snow that is on her boots fall to the carpeted floor beneath her. Blaine watches with amusement as she repeatedly signs hello to her teacher.

“I have to go to the airport now, Andrea. I-we will be back to pick you up when school gets out.”

With her never ending air of sassiness, Andrea signs that Tina should pick her and Curious Curls up early from school so they can all go together. Blaine can’t help but be true to his sign name and asks who Tina is going to pick up from the airport.

“Someone very special,” she says as she signs with a wide grin. Andrea jumps again happily.

“Anyone I know about?”

“He might have been mentioned to you a couple of times,” Tina is very much like her daughter as she says it, her smile turns up to show clear mischievousness.

“He? Is that so?” Blaine asks a little warily, Tina had tried to set him up before, as her duty as his best friend, and it never turned out well. He leans down and signs to Andrea. “Should I be worried?”

She shakes her head and her smile grows.

“Don’t worry, Blaine.” Tina laughs and pats him on the back as a gesture of comfort. “I expect you to come with us after school. We’re heading to my house for a little welcoming party for this certain person.” She waves goodbye and runs an anxious hand through her dark hair as she starts out the door. She looks excited and nervous and Blaine can’t help but suddenly feel the same way.

“Are you going to keep this a secret from me for the entire day?” He says, kneeling down and balancing on the balls of his feet so he is at her height. Her eyes spark with secretive knowledge ready to spill from her fingers.

After a few moments of defiant silence she starts signing quickly. She signs about a man, not mentioning him by name, and how he is feeling depressed and how he walks with a cane and a frown and how her mother is going to try and make that man feel better. At first Blaine thinks it’s an older relative, but in the end Andrea reveals that the man is her father.

Blaine feels his mouth drop in awe. In his head he had always pictured someone who is Tina’s age, but this is an old man with a cane…who is apparently a robot? Is this why he doesn’t live with them? He is too old to care for a deaf child? How old is he? Why is he called a robot? Suddenly Blaine feels panicked. He should have asked more questions about the man. He doesn’t even know the man’s actual name! And he is going to meet him after school? What kind of best friend is he that he didn’t even know Andrea’s father’s real name?

When Blaine asks what his name is Andrea laughs. Blaine loves her laugh; it was so loud, expressive, and uncontrolled.

She signs that she knows her father’s name and that it is “Robot.”

“No, I mean, what is his given name? What name did his parents give him when he was born?”

She sighs and begrudgingly spells out the name M-I-C-H-A-E-L and then complains that she doesn’t like how his name is spelled.

“He doesn’t go by Mike?”

She replies that she didn’t know if he went by Mike, but that she hopes he doesn’t because there was a child named Mike in her class the year before and he always pulled her hair. Blaine responds in a teasing manner that it was probably because the kid liked her, she blushes furiously and pushes his arm so he nearly falls over.

The two of them spend the remaining hour and half going over her math homework, which Andrea always has trouble with.

It feels like he is about to meet the parents of a boyfriend (something he hasn’t experienced for a long time.) Will this man think he has Tina’s boyfriend? Does he know anything about Blaine? Does Tina ever talk about her best friend, who is gay and definitely not trying to steal any position of fatherhood by dating Tina? Of course he is being paranoid, that he’s just thinking of every possible  _bad_  scenario. Thought after thought races through his mind so much that he jumps when the alarm goes off on his wrist watch, signaling that reading time is up and lunch time is ready.

The children form a line behind him and he walks them to the lunch room, his head still swimming with thoughts so much that the kid in the front has to nudge him in the right direction a few times.

When the kids are at recess Blaine spends most of his time looking in the mirror in the boy’s bathroom, making sure that everything looks presentable, but casual. He doesn’t want to look like he’s trying too hard to impress. He fixes his hair over and over again, debating on whether or not he wants a loose strand of hair to trail over his forehead or not. He decides not. He straightens his tie under his neatly pressed vest and gives himself one last glance in the mirror before retreating back into the hallway with a little more time to spare.

Blaine’s stride is confident. He always makes sure that it is, not because he always feels confident, but because he knows that people won’t try to test his wavering insecurities. But his stride suddenly stops when as Blaine’s stomach feels like it has dropped down to his finely polished shoes, gooey, heavy, and keeping him weighed down to the spot as he notices a certainly family exiting the front office.

Their kid is taller than Blaine remembers. Of course, Blaine sees his blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, so much like his fathers, every now and then in the hallways. But for three years he hasn’t managed, and doesn’t want to, get a good look at the boy.  The kid’s name is Gabe. He was in Blaine’s class when he started a Lima Elementary school and is now in his final year before Jr. High.

Much to Blaine’s surprise, and displeasure, those blue eyes light up and Gabe beams at him before calling out. This gets the attention of Gabe’s parents, something that Blaine really doesn’t want.

“Hi, Gabe,” Blaine returns, surprised that his voice is so strong when he can feel the eyes of Gabe’s parent’s, one parent more so than the other, drilling into the side of his face as he smiles at his old student. “Why are you here? I thought you would be at least graduating high school by now.”

Gabe laughs and rolls his eyes. “No, Mr. Anderson! I’m going to be in Jr. High next year. Mom and Dad are taking me to a waterpark!”

“Gabe, we’re taking you to the  _dentist_  remember,” Blaine flinches, he can’t help but flinch, the cool voice of Gabe’s father, Taylor, is like a splash of hot, burning water in his face.

“Oh don’t be silly, Taylor, Mr. Anderson wouldn’t tell on us,” his wife giggles a little. Taylor’s wife. His beautiful, innocent wife who is so in love with the family she managed to be blessed with.

“I don’t know, Quinn. From what I can remember Mr. Anderson is quite a stickler for the rules, isn’t that right?” It really stings to hear such a tumble of meaningless words delivered with such icy and satirical disdain. But, thank god, Blaine is the only one that gets it, his own response working quickly in his head as he returns Taylor’s meaningful but short-lived gaze.

“Some rules are easier to break,” he then turns to Quinn, grinning. “Your secret is safe with me.” He tussles Gabe’s hair and says his quick goodbyes to the family, hoping he will not have to see them again.

He tries to shake the expression held on Taylor’s face out of his memory as he makes his way to his kids. It isn’t possible. The cold blue eyes staring at him along with the thin pursed lips are like a stab to Blaine’s stomach.

Taylor Evans and his son, Gabe, were the first people to arrive his first ever day of class and Blaine couldn’t help but be automatically drawn to Taylor’s smooth and adventurous attitude, his light brown hair and shockingly blue eyes that seemed to take everything in at once. It was instantly a one-sided attraction, at least that’s what Blaine thought at first, anyway, he would never dream of pursuing a married straight man.

He was always the one to drop off and pick up his son, claiming that his wife’s schedule was too strained at her work for her to be able to while he had an at home job as an author. Blaine went home that night and managed to buy all of Taylor Evans’s novels, they weren’t best-sellers, but they weren’t terrible (okay, they were terrible but Blaine was deluded by attraction, he couldn’t really blame himself for explaining away the dreadfulness of the novels.) He never expected Taylor to be an author of horror novels.

At first Blaine thought he was reasonably safe with his attraction to a father of one of his students, but when Taylor admitted that he and his wife were separated he couldn’t help but be dangerously curious. Blaine consoled him the best he could and admitted that he had read Taylor’s books and enjoyed them, as much as someone can enjoy a horror novel, in an effort to cheer Taylor up. It seemed to work, but also cause a sort of strain between the two of them, strings of heat and sexual tension as Taylor openly gave Blaine a long once over with his expressive eyes before getting yanked out of the classroom by his son.

When Gabe started misbehaving and not paying attention in class and Blaine had to call Taylor in for a conference he wasn’t expecting Taylor to come alone and he certainly wasn’t expecting to be kissed or anything else like that. Taylor had walked into his class room, quietly apologizing for being an hour and a half late, swiftly shutting the door behind him and locking it.. Blaine should have been suspicious about his actions and the fact that he showed up when the entire school was nearly empty, but he was a little too worried about how he looked to the soon-to-be-single father. He was seated at his desk, waiting for Taylor to take a seat across from him, but Taylor had a different plan as he dragged his chair around to the other side of Blaine’s desk so nothing was between them, the heat between them increased.

Before Blaine could even start talking, Taylor’s mouth was pressed against his. It was awkward at first, they didn’t really know how to go about it, until Blaine finally pushed Taylor back down on his chair and straddled him. The animalistic kissing quickly escalated to licking, sucking, biting, grinding, groping, and moaning with jeans and slacks thrown to the ground. Eventually Blaine ended up with his knees digging into the carpeted floor behind his desk, and his mouth closed over Taylor’s cock.

After that they saw each other almost every night, it was adventurous and rough but secretive. Taylor said it was because he didn’t want his son to know until everything was final with the divorce. They didn’t talk that much, mainly because Taylor was all about having hip bruising sex whenever they were finally alone. They didn’t have time to talk; they only had time to have sex in all different positions and different places in Blaine’s apartment. The sex usually ended with Taylor leaving without saying much. Blaine didn’t think that anything was wrong with keeping their relationship so sexual and bold; he kept telling himself that he was happy with it.

He stopped believing that he was happy when he met Quinn, Gabe’s mother, at a parent-teacher conference. At first it was okay, because he thought that she was seeing someone else as well, that’s what Taylor told him. But when he tried to explain that constant jitteriness and misbehavior might be the cause of their separation, his heart dropped and burned with guilt and anger as she explained that she and her husband weren’t separating and that they were a very happy family. Blaine, not always known for quick thinking but able to surprise himself, quickly apologized and said that he was probably mixing up the families again and that Gabe was doing just fine. She bought it with an easy smile. He hated how nice she was, how powerful and independent she was.

The next time they met, Taylor admitted that he lied to Blaine, but that he really liked Blaine and didn’t want to break up with Quinn because of their child. He had the audacity to think that they were going to continue their illicit sexual activities. Their disagreement eventually ended in a fight which left Blaine feeling guilty for so many reasons that he couldn’t tell them apart in his own head. He was grateful that there was only a few more weeks left from school, only a few more weeks of being forced to see Taylor and his hurt expressions.

Blaine went to his boss, Principal Abrams, and quickly admitted his mistakes, taking in the full knowledge that he would probably be fired for the affair. But instead he got off with a warning and a pity-filled smile from the kind Principal. He seemed to think that the heavy guilt that Blaine was feeling was enough punishment. Thank god, none of it was ever taken to the School District.

He somehow ends up teaching the rest of his class with a distracted mind. He is so out of his element that he completely forgets that he is going to meet Andrea’s father at the end of the class. It is only when he sees a young man, not much older than Tina or himself. He has long, nimble fingers that grip onto a black, wooden cane; dark eyes that, to no surprise, look almost exactly like Andrea’s behind thin-rimmed glasses; A strong torso that is snuggled tightly in a navy blue sweater; and thin black slacks held up with suspenders. Michael is gorgeous, to say the least. They don’t get people like him in Lima, not even blonde haired, blue-eyed novel writers. A bitter taste fills Blaine’s mouth as his mind strays back to Taylor.

When the bell rings Andrea drags him toward the door. He is very nervous and already dreading any conversation he might have in his thoroughly freaked out condition. He can feel the heat from his face heating up his dark hair and hopes that he doesn’t start sweating.

“Blaine is Andrea’s teacher and my best friend,” Tina says happily while Blaine wipes his hands on his pants and extends a hand for his new acquaintance to shake. “Blaine, this is Michael. He’s Andrea father.”

His grip is strong and his fingers are thin and smooth. Blaine blushes, knowing that his fingers are calloused and his hands are probably moist with the threat of perspiration.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Blaine manages to say before Andrea pushes between them. She eagerly gestures for Michael to pick her up. By the way Michael is practically shaking while one hand grips onto his cane and the other stretches around his daughter as he hoists her onto his hip, Blaine can tell that it is very painful for him. He can see the proud line of Michael’s jaw as he clutches onto his daughter, they both ignore Tina’s first protest to the action. This makes Blaine wonder what happened to the man. Is it a permanent injury?

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Michael says with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He starts signing with his free hand, letting his daughter hold his cane, it is a very slow process and Blaine can tell that he is out of practice.

Tina moves to the other side so her daughter can see her sign that she was probably hurting her father and should get down. Andrea nods solemnly and wiggles out of Michael’s grip.  Blaine pretends that he doesn’t see the slightly disheartened blush on Michael’s face.

“You have?”

“You’re all Andrea and Tina talk about,” the stiff smile appeared again.

“Now I feel bad,” Blaine frowns and glances over at Michael’s shoulder at Tina and Andrea. Tina is lecturing Andrea on being careful with her dad because of his leg. “I don’t know that much about you. But that’s mostly my fault I swear. People say I’m too curious and I try not to be.”

“Andrea did tell me that your sign name was Curious Curls so I guess that makes sense.” His eyes flick to the stray hair that still managed to fall down across Blaine’s forehead after arts and crafts. He feels the heat return to his cheeks and has to look away from Michael briefly, feeling those dark eyes move over his hair.

Blaine is about to say that he can see where the man got his Robot name by the way his eyes were so cold and lifeless, nothing like his daughter’s eyes, but exactly alike at the same time. He holds his tongue, knowing that another poor trait of his is his bluntness. He merely smiles in return to Michael’s comment.

This is awkward.

“Are we ready to go?” Tina asks with a smile, completely oblivious to the newly building tension.

“Depends,” Blaine says, eyeing Tina with a look of archness before continuing, “are you using the royal we are you talking about people that haven’t even packed up their things yet?”

Tina flips her hair and sticks her nose in the air, returning Blaine’s sarcastic manner. “We only use the royal we when people question us.”

“Then you must be constantly using it,” Blaine laughs as he runs away from Tina’s vengeful glare.

He is quick as he packs up his things, too aware of a third set of eyes watching and waiting for him. It makes him nervous to have a stranger wait for him, so much that he ends up dropping most of his papers on his way back to the door. He scrambles to pick up his mess and embarrassingly receives help from Michael, who made Blaine drop the stuff out of anxiety in the first place.

 

* * *

He feels uneasy around Michael. Blaine is sure that if he met Michael without the similar acquaintances they would not be friends or even remember each other. Michael is too calm and too quiet. His eyes are dead, expressionless, and steady. He is coldly handsome and there is no fire or passion in him, no conviction or exuberance. His body seems strong but his gestures are weak and light. There is no firm destination in him. Blaine can almost call it gracefulness, but settles on the idea that it is just wary caution. There is also a trace of real pretention in Michael’s glances and subtle words. This reminds Blaine of Taylor during their fight.

When dinner is over and Tina is putting Andrea to bed, Blaine finds himself stuck with Michael in their tiny living room. They say nothing to each other. He wants to ask Michael questions but is afraid to be shot down with a glare or an awkwardly short answer. He also doesn’t want to make a fool of himself.

Luckily, Tina isn’t away that long and shows up with a three bottles of beer. It’s a Friday night so Blaine has no qualms with having a drink with a friend and a robot. Tina and Blaine did most of the talking, Michael seems resigned to stare at the handle of his cane while silently nursing his beer. Blaine doesn’t complain, he gets the most uncomfortable sort of shivers whenever Mike looks at him, which, luckily, isn’t that often.

“So,” Blaine finally says, not able to stand the silence any more. “What do you do for a living?” He asks casually, looking up at Michael with an attempt at a pleasant smile. The smile fades when he notices Michael’s hesitating wince at the question.

“I was a teacher,” Blaine notices the way Michael forces himself to sound nonchalant. “I taught dance in New York.”

Blaine suddenly understands why the subject is cause for awkward pause, considering Mike’s current condition. He can’t help but glance at the long black cane resting near against the couch near Michael’s leg. He feels a blush creep up his neck and almost buries his head in his hands out of sheer embarrassment, only to realize that the action would probably cause both of them to be awkwardly embarrassed.

“Andrea’s asleep, she’s had a long and exciting day,” Tina says as she enters the room with three fresh bottles of beer. Blaine watches as the tension in the room dissipates when Tina sits down in between them, handing them each a new beer. Blaine glances at his watch, it is still pretty early for a Friday night. “So, I know it’s kind of terrible of me, but I invited some people over that you just have to meet. Of course, you have already met Blaine and he is the most important, but I invited Sam and Brittany from work.”

Blaine has already met the two people she is talking about and sits up a little bit. Tina owns the music store and is actually their boss, Sam being the enthusiastic manager that took his guitar everywhere, and Brittany being the dubious blonde who is surprisingly good with money and manages the finances while Tina sells pianos and other instruments. Blaine only met the two of them because Tina had once tried to set him up with Sam and forced Blaine to visit her at work once. That date was one disaster that Blaine didn’t like to think about. It is also pretty obvious to Blaine that Sam is in love with Brittany, which meant this night is going to be more uncomfortable than it already is.

Now he is preparing himself for an extremely awkward night in with Tina, a grumpy Robot guy, an oblivious blonde, and a love struck boy.  This train of thought makes him wonder if they are all mentally giving him a title. Maybe the charming elementary school teacher? Or the obnoxious gay guy? He doesn’t want to think about it too much.

The two new guests greet Michael with nervous looks, and Blaine can tell that Michael’s cold smiles make them just as uncomfortable as he is. As the five of them settle in, Blaine notices that Tina sat Sam between him and Michael while Brittany is pointedly asked to sit on Michael’s other side. The couch isn’t small but seating four people to it that aren’t very well acquainted with each other makes it feel way smaller than it actually is. Tina sits herself across from them in the only chair in the room.

“I’m sorry, my place is so small. I was going to make Michael invite you over to his new place, which is a lot bigger, but he doesn’t have any furniture yet,” Tina chuckles and winks at Michael, who rolls his eyes in a good natured way. “But I’m making him go furniture shopping with me soon.”

Tina has a knack for breaking coldest of ice, her smiles warm until everyone’s awkwardness melts away and they all swing happily into the topic of furniture for a large three bedroom and two bathroom apartment. Blaine almost feels like they should be eating cubes of cheese and tasting wine with the shallow topics they are touching on, but he doesn’t expect any different from the group. Brittany and Sam make good conversation with each other, Sam’s smile bright and pleased as she flips her hair. Tina and Michael end up standing in the corner whispering to each other, while Blaine idly checks his phone. He doesn’t mind sitting in the background, in fact he enjoys watching Brittany and Sam like a favorite TV show.

When Tina set him up on a date with Sam, Blaine was all kinds of hesitant, considering the blatant similarities Sam had with Taylor, mainly his eye color.  He had every right to be hesitant when he found out that Sam  _is_  related to Taylor (another reminder that Blaine lived in a boring small town) They are cousins. Of course, Blaine didn’t question Sam about his relatives, he only later found out the family connection through his extensive Facebook stalking skills. On their one and only date Sam admitted that he was only doing it to get Tina out of his hair and that he was in love with someone else, a girl. Blaine assumes that it is Brittany by the way they were so helplessly flirting with each other when he first stopped by the music store. He doesn’t let Sam’s relation to Taylor effect his opinion about Sam. He respects Sam’s honesty and enjoys the conversations they have about music and reading, also Sam is hilariously talented when it comes to impressions (Blaine’s favorite is his impression of Sean Connery.)

When Sam and Brittany leave, Blaine finds himself alone in the den with Michael again while Tina checks up on Andrea. “I should probably head home,” Blaine says quietly before standing up.

“Wait, are you sure you should drive after drinking?” Something about Michael’s tone is oddly strained.

“Uhm, I think I’ll be okay, I still feel pretty sober.” Blaine blinks in surprise when Michael shakes his head.

“No, you should stay here for the night, I’m sure Tina wouldn’t mind.”

This is weird. “I guess? I’ve never stayed over here before.”

Just then Tina walks in with a peaceful smile on her face, “I’m sorry that tonight was so awkward for you guys, it was really just Brittany and Sam talking. They’re kind of inseparable best friends.” Blaine feels that Tina is very wrong about that. “Are you leaving?” She asks, tilting her head in an adorably curious way.

“Uh…”

“He’s had like three beers, Tina. He should probably stay.”

“Okay! Sounds great! It’ll be an adult sleepover. Blaine can sleep in my bed with me, and you can take the couch.” She says as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“No-I mean-I can go home, it’s only a few blocks awa-”

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Mike. You’ve had some beer as well,” her smile is sad, which confounds Blaine, what is this all about anyway? “I’ll get you some blankets.” Her bright smile returns as she flips her hair around to leave again. Michael lets out a heavy sigh and slumps his shoulders in defeat. Blaine sends him a satisfied smirk before following Tina to her bedroom, feeling sort of vindicated.

He shucks of his pants, sweater, and button up shirt so he is left in his T-shirt and boxers and lays down on her bed while she patiently takes off her make-up and earrings.

“So, what was that about?” He asks as casually as he can muster.

Tina smiles wryly as she flicks off the light, her silhouette captured by the moonlight as she walks pasts her window. Blaine hears a small thud and a curse as she approaches the bed. “Fucking small bedroom-small everything,” she grumbles. Blaine sympathizes with her; their small apartment certainly isn’t enough for Tina and Andrea. Many times has he held her as she cried about not be able to provide a nice home for her child. He wishes he could help make their lives a little simpler, but his wage is no better than the money she makes from the store. “Anyway, uh, Mike is just super particular about drunk driving since the accident.”

“Accident? Where he got his leg injured?”

“I’m not sure injured is the right way to explain it. It was more extreme than that.” She cuddles next to him under the blanket. “But-he uh-he wasn’t the drunk driver. They got hit about two years ago by a drunk in some douche-bag hummer.” He can feel Tina tense up against him and a small sniff. There is definitely something missing in this story.

“So the cane is…forever?”

“The cane is recent, he was making recovery and could still teach but his dancer partner didn’t do a lift right and made it worse,” it sounds like a life where everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Blaine can relate. “That’s why he came here; Andrea’s all he has left since his fiancé died.” Blaine  _can’t_  relate.

“His fiancé?”

“Died a few days after the crash.”

“Oh.” Blaine really can’t relate. He swallows, feeling slightly guilty. All of this happened two years ago and Michael looked like it happened yesterday.

“You would have liked Kevin,” Tina says softly. “He was a musician too, he played the violin. He also spoiled Andrea every time he would visit with Michael.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet him,” Blaine whispers more to himself than to her. He feels odd, like all of this information is too private for him to hear. He doesn’t like that he has learned so much about Michael Chang in one night. He feels guilty and saddened and frustrated with himself for not liking Michael just because he is so tense and awkward. He wishes that he could have been a little more friendly during their first meeting.

He wakes early the next day so he can avoid seeing Michael. Unfortunately, his plans are shattered when he runs into Michael in the hallway. They stand together in the dim light of the tiny hallway knowing that they should exchange some sort of salutation. Blaine feels like he should say something witty like “wow, small world isn’t it?” or “fancy seeing you here, Mr. Chang.” “Oh, no, call me Michael, Mr. Chang is my father’s name.” and then they would chortle and go about their merry way.

“Morning,” Blaine finally mumbles before edging past Michael, hating how small the apartment is.

“Hey,” Michael says after Blaine thinks he is safe. Blaine reluctantly turns back toward him with a raised eyebrow to gesture for Michael to continue. “How long have you lived here?”

“All my life,” Blaine says simply. He doesn’t like the fact, but there is no use in hiding the truth.

“Good, do you know of any craft stores around?”

“Hey, just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I like to bling out my notebooks or sew clothing for my pets,” Blaine doesn’t realize that he says it until Michael’s expression switches from curious to alarmed in one quick motion, his eyes, for once, lighting up with some emotion.

“No, I just-sorry-that’s not why I-”

“No that was me without my filter, it tends to happen at this time in the morning when I haven’t had my coffee. I know that’s not what you meant,” Blaine sighs, glad that the light is low so Michael doesn’t have to see his strong blush. “I just automatically-yeah, Lima is kind of-well there is Michaels in a strip mall a few blocks from here.” Blaine chuckles. “Michaels, and your name is Michael. It’s funny.”

Michael just stares at him for a moment before letting out a small excruciatingly sympathetic laugh.

“So,” Blaine claps his hands together to get rid of the silence. “I’m just going to go, it was nice meeting you.” Blaine sticks his hand out in the hopes of a handshake; Michael just stares at him and then his hand. “Right, bye.” He turns around quickly and heads toward the front door only to come back moments later to get his jacket and keys. He suddenly feels like he is back in high school, his face burning with embarrassment. This is all Michael’s fault. Somehow.

 

* * *

Blaine finally learns the entire story the next week when Tina forces him to go furniture shopping with her at some ungodly hour that shouldn’t exist on a Saturday. Luckily, Michael had to work and didn’t come along. They decide that IKEA is their best bet and end up sitting at a nice family table together when she spills the truth.

“I like this one,” she says, running her hands along the table top. “It looks easy to clean. Which will be nice because Andrea is such a messy eater as you know.”

“Wait, I thought this was for Michael’s apartment.” Tina’s eyebrows raise in surprise at his reaction.

“Oh, I thought I told you. Andrea and I are moving in with Michael when my lease is up at the end of this month,” she beams happily. “We figured it would be nice to have Michael around a lot more and he wants to take care of her and help me out.”

“Are you two-”Blaine bites down on his lip and thinks about what he is going to ask. “Going to be-datin-are you two going to be together again?”

“Again? What? No!” Tina bursts into loud laughter, causing some fellow shoppers to jump in shock. “No, we never dated. Michael is like a brother to me. It’s purely platonic and it always has been, since high school.”

Blaine buries his face in his hands and groans, finally giving up on not being curious. “What is going on here?”

Tina stares at him for a good long moment before cracking a wide grin. “Michael is Andrea’s father because my ex-husband was sterile and we really wanted a kid.”

“Why am I the worst best friend ever?”

“It’s not really something I usually talk about.” Tina’s grin weakens a little as she leans forward onto the table. “I have to admit, I’m kind of grateful you never asked. I don’t like talking about it in front of Andrea. Actually, I don’t like to talk about it at all. But you’re my best friend and you should know. My ex-husband left me and Andrea when he learned that Andrea was deaf. He was a pianist like you, you know? We started the store together. Anyway, when he learned she was deaf he packed his things and left. I got a nice little note explaining that he just couldn’t do it. I found him later at his parents house and we got in this huge fight and I sent him the divorce papers a few months later. They took care of Andrea while I went to court to get the music store and full custody, not really surprising that the music store was harder to get but in the end I won,” Tina has a sinfully vindicated smirk on her face as she reminisces that part. “Anyway, Michael became her legal guardian and decided to pay child support to help.” Blaine feels his chest warm at the touching end of the story. “Since he has no reason to stay in New York now, he has moved down here to be closer to his daughter. Because, let’s face it, anyone that has been through what he has needs her in their life. I know she is better than any depression medication they can make. When she was a baby and I could just rock her in my arms every night to get both of us to sleep.” Her smile changes to blissfully nostalgic before she looks up at Blaine and blushes a little, her eyes are watery. “Anyway, Michael has been such a life-saver and now he wants Andrea and I to move in with him. You should have seen his face when he saw where we lived, he was furious.” She chuckles and shakes her head, lifting the sleeve of her jacket to her eyes.

Blaine feels like h. “I really am such a terrible friend. I’m sorry.” Blaine says sorrowfully as he reaches to touch her arm.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you are not.” She rolls her eyes and laughs. “So this table? Yeah?”

“I can picture myself drinking coffee and chatting with you about boys at this table so I say yes,” Blaine grins.

Tina’s eyes get teary again and she signs a quick thank you to him before standing up and checking the price.

“How’s the price?”

“Doesn’t really matter. Money’s not an issue with Michael,” she shrugs and nods her head toward the bedroom section.

“Did he make a lot of money as a dance teacher?” Blaine asks as they test out the twin size beds for Andrea.  Blaine is lying on a Disney Princess themed comforter while Tina is spread out over a SpongeBob one.

“Well, he taught a kids dance class, but he was also a choreographer for some pretty big Broadway shows. He doesn’t like to brag about it. Kevin was pretty enthusiastic about show boating his fiancé’s career though. He would always introduce Michael as a choreographer for whatever show Mike was working on. It drove Michael nuts.” Whenever Kevin is mentioned, Blaine feels a deep and hidden guilt in his stomach buzzing away, like it is somehow his fault that Michael’s life sucks. Not to mention the saddened look Tina gets whenever she mentions the name.

“How did you two meet?”

“How come you are asking me so many questions all the sudden?” Tina simpers as she tucks a hand under a Squidward pillow and glares over at him.  Blaine responds by burying his face into Prince Phillip’s smile on one of the pillows.

“I just feel so bad about not knowing anything about you. I know I said it before but I should have been more interested in your life and Andrea’s.” He mutters into the pillow.

“Nonsense, you know everything else about me. And I did tell you I had an ex-husband.” Blaine vaguely recalls Tina mentioning that she was married before. “Anyway, Michael and I met in high school, we were both taking an art class. Okay, I was taking it and he was a teaching assistant. ”

“I didn’t know you were an artist.”

Tina laughs again, “No, absolutely not. I was taking it because I was trying to find a way to express all my teenage angst. Michael is an artist though.”

“Jesus, is there anything he can’t do?” Blaine can’t help but feel a little annoyed.

“He can’t sing. He’s a bad singer. He can’t play any musical instrument. Also, his landscapes aren’t as good as his portraits, but still pretty good. Oh, also, he can’t do poetry or just writing in general. We took a creative writing class together and he was just absolutely terrible,” this makes Blaine feel a little smug.

 He can’t help but feel a little competitive with Michael, even thought he hardly knew the guy and felt an extreme amount of pity for him. Secretly, Blaine has always been a little bitterly jealous of those more talented them him. Blaine use to dabble in song writing and can play the piano and guitar well, but those things never took him anywhere. This is why Blaine is stuck as an elementary school teacher. Secretly, Blaine feels his first twinge of regret for not working harder at his dreams like Michael. Maybe Michael didn’t work at them at all. Maybe he was just naturally gifted.

“Tina?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to get off these beds, I’m about to fall asleep.”

“Yeah, good idea. Just a few more minutes…”

 

* * *

When Blaine gets home he plays his keyboard until four in the morning the next day, by the end of it he comes out feeling sore but dramatically satisfied. He then falls asleep to dream of Taylor and large Hummers that come to life and run innocent people over all accompanied by a basic folk song played poorly on an old keyboard. It is an understatement to say that he didn’t get enough sleep. But Sunday is a good day to just take off from the rest of the world and he ends up drinking coffee and staying in his boxers and a T-shirt while watching  _The Nightmare Before Christmas_  over and over again.

Around five in the evening he sees Michael again and feels the familiar embarrassed anxiety that often occurs whenever Michael is around. It doesn’t help that he is still in his boxers when Tina and Michael show up with Andrea bouncing happily in their wake. He hurriedly runs to his room and puts on a pair of pants while Tina laughs at his laziness.

“What? A guy can sit in his apartment and have a lazy Sunday?” Blaine asks as he returns to his living room, buckling his pants up.

“We didn’t have one. Just finished moving our stuff to Michael’s house. If you picked up your phone you could have came over to help,” Tina says with a sarcastic look on her face. Blaine frowns and runs back into his room to take his phone from its charger. He has four missed calls.

"I guess I just didn't remember that I have a phone today," he shrugs and slides the phone into his pocket. 

"Uh-huh, sure. You just didn't want to work."

Before Blaine can reply he feels a tug on his shirt and looks down to see Andrea rapidly signing to him about the days adventures. Apparently she got to sit on the couch while Sam and her dad carried her into the house and it was like flying on a dragon and then her dad made them all hot chocolate because Sam was complaining about doing summer work during the winter. She also went on about her apparently huge room that had a walk-in closet that she was going to have to block off in case of monsters.

"I missed out on hot chocolate?" He says as he signs, kneeling down in front of her so she doesn't have to crane her neck to see his hands. "That's my punishment for being lazy, huh?" She nods and flicks his ear before pouting dramatically and heading toward the TV, where  _The Nightmare Before Christmas_  is still playing. He is surprised when Michael hands him a thermos with what he assumes is hot chocolate. "Uh...thank you. Is there a reason for this visit?" He directs at Tina, who is watching Andrea with a pleased smile.

"It was Andrea's idea," she says after a long pause. "She was worried that you died because you didn't answer the phone."

Blaine rolls his eyes but smiles as he heads toward his small kitchen. He isn't surprised when Tina follows him. "How was the move then?"

"Well, Andrea gushed about her new room for hours and," she leans into whisper. "I'm thinking about setting Michael and Sam up on a date."

Blaine felt his eyebrows raise in shock. "Is Sam your go-to guy to hook your friends up with or something? I suddenly feel like my date with him was just a formality to be your friend or something." He does feel a little miffed, what if Sam likes Michael better than him? Blaine went on a date with Sam first! He then quickly reprimands himself, because he was never interested in Sam in the first place. And Michael isn't going to win Sam anyway, Sam is in love with Brittany. “Besides, I already told you he is interested in someone else.”

"Well, I would have set you up with Brittany as well but yeah- that would have been hilariously awkward," she replies nonchalantly, ignoring the last of his protest.

"So you're going to set him up with Brittany if Sam doesn't work out?" Tina nods, as if she is proud of herself. "Do you ever think that maybe they go on all of these set up dates because you're their boss?"

"No," Tina says, but she sounds unsure. "I wouldn't fire them if they didn't go on these dates. They know that."

Blaine takes a sip of the hot chocolate and lets out a surprised shuddering breathe. "Wow. Delicious," he then feels a spark of jealousy again, Mike could even make better hot chocolate than him. "Yeah, but you would also never shut up until they agreed to go."

Tina pouts and folds her arm, very much resembling her daughter. "I just want my two best friends to have someone and be happy."

"That's nice, Tina. But I don't need anyone right now, I'm perfectly happy with being 27 and single," he takes another long drink from the thermos cup before continuing. "If you think that I'm so lonely then maybe it's a reflection of how you feel?"

"I'm not lonely, Blaine. I have Andrea and you and now Mike."

"And I have you and Andrea, I'm okay with that."

Tina lets out a frustrated sigh. "That may be so but you can't speak for Mike." Her eyes flit to the threshold of the kitchen leading to the living room where Michael is describing to Andrea what is happening in the movie.

"No, I can't," Blaine takes another sip of the warm drink, his eyes stuck on the scene while Michael describes, to the best of his abilities, that Jack Skellington is borrowing the Christmas holiday from Santa and his elves for the year. Andrea shakes her head and grins, exclaiming that Jack is silly and should probably just be happy with Halloween and that she has always like Halloween better because she likes candy more than getting presents. Mike's eyebrows raise and he signs that he is going to change her mind about that this year when they all have the best Christmas ever. Blaine only feels jealousy that Mike is even better with kids than he is. The warmth in his chest is clearly from the drink and not anything else. 

Tina snaps her fingers in front of Blaine's eyes and he jumps. "Come to the apartment with us, Andrea will want to show you her room." The next thing Blaine knows, he is sitting  passenger seat of Michael's car while Tina and Andrea sat together in the back. He hates the sitting next to Michael while the two in the back chat away excitedly about their new rooms. Michael is silent and his hands are too still on the wheel and his eyes too steady. And when they are inside the apartment he is still quiet. Granted, Blaine doesn't say much either. It's really just Andrea showcasing her bedroom with zeal.

When Andrea starts throwing a tantrum about not being able sleep in her bedroom that night because it didn't have a bed yet, Tina takes her aside to the spacious kitchen. This leaves Blaine awkwardly alone with Michael in the nearly empty living room. 

"So," Blaine starts after a beat. "You make some pretty good hot chocolate."

"Thank you, it was K-" Michael inhales quickly before continuing. "It was a friend's recipe."

Blaine bites down on his bottom lip. Sheesh, everything about this guy makes him feel either guilty or jealous. "Well, you should definitely let me have a copy of it or something." There is another awkward pause. "So, I wanted to say thank you."

Mike stares at him for a few seconds before responding. "For what?"

"For letting Tina and Andrea move in with you. That place was no good for them. I swear I bump my toe on every corner in the house and I'm tiny." That gets a small smile out of Michael. "Also, that place is definitely haunted by and unfriendly ghost, but don't tell Andrea that." Blaine says in a serious and rushed tone.

Michael chuckles. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Anyway, this is exactly what they need."Blaine thinks that he would have given them what they needed if he could, Michael wasn’t the only one that cared about them.

 "Yeah, it is, I'm glad they have a friend like you around," Mike gives him a small smile, that almost seems genuine for once, and moves toward the kitchen. Blaine stares at the spot where Michael was standing before for a long moment before shaking his head and looking around for something else to distract him. It's not long before Andrea comes skipping in like nothing happened before.

She signs to him that she likes that her mommy and daddy are both going to live with her and that she is okay with them not being in love like all the other parents. He tells her that she is very lucky to have parents that care about her and each other. She says she lucky that she has three parents, which Blaine doesn't get but smiles anyway. He is sure that Tina hasn't told Andrea about the man that was supposed to be her dad, Tina's ex-husband. Maybe she remembers him. Blaine hopes she doesn't.

 

* * *

The day before Christmas break Blaine finds out exactly who she was talking about when the class turns in  their drawings of their families they were going to post on the wall when they got back. He feels his heart leap as he looks down at Andrea's drawing, there is a small girl one woman and two men. Andrea has given herself blue hair for some reason and a twirly mustache while her mother is drawn next to her, head to toe in black as usual, Michael is next to her with his cane and then there is the last man, a messy bundle of black curls atop his head and a huge smile. Above the curl-haired man is Blaine's name. He stares at it for minutes, the edges of the construction paper crinkling under his grip. He doesn't realize he is crying until a knock at his classroom door startles him and he quickly wipes away his tears. Principal Abrams comes in with that same happy smile he always seems to have.

"Sup', Mr. Anderson?" Blaine has a theory that Principal Abrams is forcing himself to put the PAL in Principal or he really just is a friendly guy that tries to uses “hip” words unironically.

"Nothing much, just getting ready to leave for the Christmas holidays. Did you need something from me?" He places Andrea’s picture on top of the others, reminding himself to hang it in the center of their collage. 

"Actually, yeah," He rolls his wheelchair further into the classroom and Blaine notices the slight blush on Principal Abrams cheeks. "I was wondering about that woman that I always see you leaving with."

Blaine gulps, instantly nervous. "Listen Principal Abrams-"

"Call me Artie, please Blaine, we've been over this-"

"Artie, it's nothing like that. I promise. She's just a friend an-"

"I know that, I was wonder-"

"I know that their aren't rules against dating parents but she is single anyway so it wouldn’t be wrong but I’m not dating because I'm gay anyway so-"

"-ing if you could possibly introduce us."

"-so there is definitely nothing going on between us. I would never make that mistake again." Blaine takes a breath before realizing what was just asked of him. "What?" Artie blushes again and looks down at his hands. "Didn't you already meet her? I mean, she was pretty much waving her picket sign in your face the first day of this school year."

"Yeah, and she was still beautiful when she was doing it, wow." Artie leans on the edge of his chair and looks a bit nostalgic. 

"Oh my god," Blaine says, placing a hand over his face in embarrassment and astonishment. "Will I get fired if I say no?"

"Absolutely," Artie says with a straight face before cracking a smile. "Nah, man. Just be a bro and like causally mention me, maybe? Unless that other guy that started picking up her child is a potential love interest? Because then I'm pretty sure that that's a fight I'll lose instantly."

“No! No- I mean, Michael is Andrea’s father but it’s a complicated story and no they aren’t going to get together or anything. _Ever_ ,” he takes a breath before continuing on in his stuttering explanation. “So he’s free- _she’s_ \- she-is-free-reign, in a manner of speaking.”

Artie arches an eyebrow at Blaine’s stuttering but ends up just shaking his head in confusion. “So can you introduce me or what?”

Blaine eyes him momentarily before shrugging. “I guess, but any progression of your relationship afterward is entirely up to you two, I’m not a matchmaker. And, and you better treat her nice or she’ll kick your ass. I can’t kick your ass because you’re my boss but yeah, don’t screw it up.” He knows Artie is a good and caring man by his own experience, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious with his best friend’s heart. Besides, he doubts that Tina will be all that interested. Principal Abrams is kind of a huge spaz, he doesn’t think that is Tina’s type. But then again, he’s really just comparing Artie to Mike and Tina has never been interested in the cool and silent pull of Michael’s charm. Not that Michael has charm. Blaine will never think that Michael has charm. Because he doesn’t. He’s not even _that_ attractive.

Artie swallows, obviously nervous, before nodding. “I’m still going go to give it a shot.”

“So, yeah,” Blaine stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I guess I can think up a reason to invite you over to my apartment tomorrow night. We’re having Eggnog and watching _A Christmas Carol_.”

“Awesome,” Artie raises his hand for a high five which Blaine gladly returns. Nothing is wrong with a high five moment.

* * *

 

Before Tina, Mike, and Andrea arrive Blaine is going through some of his closet in search of things to give to the Salvation Army. He manages to find the entire set Horror Novels written by T. J. Evans and his stomach does an obnoxiously aching clench. He is flipping through the pages of one of them and shaking his head at himself and his choices when there is a knock at the door. He sets the book down on his coffee table, still laughing at himself when he feel like he should slamming his own head against the wall for his stupidity, and opens the door. Andrea walks in with her cheeks rosy and her eyes bright from the rush of the new snow falling outside. She signs a hello and rushes past him, leaving a trail of winter wear behind her.

“Did you guys get here alright? No trouble on the road?” Blaine asks as Tina takes off her scarf and hat to hang them on a nearby rack.

“Nope, it’s not bad,” Tina gives him a small hug before following Andrea into the apartment. Mike enters next and pulls off his scarf. Blaine glances at the way Mike’s T-shirt gets tightened over his shoulders and chest as he pulls off his jacket, feels a slight blush on his cheeks, and follows Tina.

“I invited a friend from work over, Artie Abrams.”

Tina, who is picking up Taylor’s book in curiosity, drops it as she jumps in surprise. “Your friends with your boss?”

“And Sam and Brittany are just friends that you pay to help with a store you just so happened to own? I can have friends outside of you,” Blaine says with a sniff before moving into his kitchen. He smirks when he hears the clunk of Tina’s boots follow him.

“Okay, fine. But Principal Abrams is just,” Tina pulls a complicated face. “Weird.”

“Says the girl that spent a year of high school pretending she was a vampire?” Michael says with a short laugh as he enters the kitchen. His cheeks are red like his daughter’s, giving him an artificial spark of life that Blaine knows isn’t fully there anymore. Maybe it was there at one point. Blaine doesn’t like to delude himself into thinking that maybe it could be there again. But he has to admit to himself that Michael is very attractive and the idea of dating him is stirring in the back of Blaine’s mind more often than not, but he’s smart enough not to let it get too far. Michael isn’t worth the work it would take to bring him back to life.

“That was to get out of gym class and you know it,” Tina replies defiantly as she takes a bite out of a cookie that Blaine had set out for the night. “You’ll never see me wear ugly sweaters like Andrea’s Principal. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t do anything to get Andrea a proper interpreter.”

“I already told you, Tina,” Blaine says with a sigh. “There is nothing he could do. The school budget is already stretched thin as it is. I mean, obviously the pay isn’t amazing either, look at my apartment for example.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tina grumbles and picks up another cookie, shoving it in Blaine’s mouth and leaving Blaine alone with Michael again. She has a habit of leaving them alone together.

“Why don’t you get a different job if the pay isn’t very good?”

Blaine wants to respond right away and show that every conversation they have won’t just be awkward silence, but his mouth is still in inconveniently full of chocolate chip cookie. He has two options, he can either spit it out (gross!) or swallow it as soon as possible. He decides to give it a few good chews before swallowing it down, the gritty texture scratching the sides of his throat, making him cough. Michael ends up patting him on the back a few times, his hand sends a sort of shock through Blaine. After a few moments of coughing

“I don’t want a job that I hate, you know?” Blaine replies, still rubbing at his throat and feeling thoroughly embarrassed, even if it is Michael’s fault that he ended up nearly dying. “I love working with children and even if the pay isn’t that great, I only have myself to take care of so it’s not a big deal.”

“Tina told me that you can play the piano,” Michael leans on the counter, with what Blaine guessed is supposed to be an encouraging smile. They have known each other for a few weeks now, but Blaine still feels like they are complete strangers. He supposes that it’s time that they really get acquainted with each other, but the thought makes him nervous.

“Yeah, I can. I just don’t play it as much as I used to,” to get himself to stop staring over at Michael, Blaine moves to the fridge and pulls out a cartoon of eggnog. “Would you like some?” He holds up the jug. Mike nods and Blaine turns away from him again to get some mugs from the cupboards.

“Do you have a piano?”  Mike asks after he takes his first sip of eggnog. Blaine shakes his head vigorously and leans on the table across from Mike.

“No, I have a keyboard that I bought back in college when I had to leave my piano at my parents house. Piano’s are heavy and a single nudge can ruin its tune. And a tune-up isn’t cheap,” he feels a rush of potential conversation rush through him and sets down his cup to pull his phone out of his pocket. “I decided that I was going to wait until I found a career and a permanent home before I even think about buying a new piano for myself. But here,” he finds the right photo on his Facebook page of himself in high school and moves next to Michael to show him. “That is the kind of Piano I want. I might just go back and buy it from Dalton or something,” he chuckles and looks over at Michael, who is fixedly staring at the picture. Blaine smiles and looks back at the sleek black grand piano. “When I played that piano I felt like I had so much-so much-”

“Self. So much control over yourself, like nothing anyone does can stop you from anything.”

“Yeah,” Blaine breathes out and glances up to see that Michael is still staring at the picture. He takes a few moments to study the line of Michael’s face, the softness of his dark eyes and the way his lips are pursed in concentration. He imagines that Michael knows how it feels, to feel that wonderful. He gulps and looks away, tucking his phone back into his pocket. “But I love my job, I really do. I don’t get the same thrill out of cleaning glue out of my hair, but I like to know that I might make a difference in their lives.” This isn’t supposed to be a heart-to-heart, this is supposed to be simple and nice. This isn’t supposed to make Blaine feel understood but ridiculously guilty at the same time. Stupid Michael. “Tina told me that you are an artist of sorts.”

Michael draws himself up, obviously tense about the subject. “Yeah, I like it. Used to be a hobby, but it’s a job now.”

“Oh? What do you do? Paint houses or something?” That gets a laugh out of Michael, who kind of looked like he saw a ghost before.

“No-I kind of work-it’s kind of the job I had before I came here, but-it’s difficult to explain. I basically draw storyboards for my company up in New York.”

“Storyboards? Like those things you see in the extra stuff on Disney DVDs?”

“Yeah, that but the Dancer’s just copy what I have drawn. I mean, they have a new chor-choreographer but I still help out,” Michael lets out a deflated laugh. “I think they’re just trying to make me feel useful.”

Blaine doesn’t know what to say to that so he ends up drinking the rest of his eggnog in one gulp. “I’m sure that’s not the case, but I haven’t seen any of your work so I can only be bias here.” Michael’s smile curves up to show a set of dimples that Blaine didn’t know exited while his eyes light up with a pleased expression. Blaine feels like he’s choking again, but on his own shock and churning delight at being able to see such a sight. He nudges Michael, rallied by the final break in their awkward acquaintance.”You’ll have to show me some of your work sometime.”

“Only if I get to hear you play the piano.”

“Absolutely, just not on the keyboard because, as much as it satisfies my personal needs, I would never try to perform with one,” Blaine replies with a shaky grin. There is something truly invigorating about seeing Michael smile like that, it sends a pleasant shiver through Blaine’s entire body, like he just stepped into the warmth of a heater after spending too much time out in the cold. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands so one ends up scratching the back of his head, unintentionally loosening the gelled down curls, while the other rests on the counter top so he can lean in what he hopes is a casual way.

“Well, it’s a good thing we know someone that owns a music store, huh?” That look in his eye is still there as he says it and Blaine can’t verbally reply so he merely nods.

There is another knock on the door and Blaine jumps, surprised that there are other people and other things existing outside his small kitchen. He moves quickly to the door and finds Artie sitting behind it in one of his ridiculous sweaters and a huge, nervous grin on his face. “Hi, Artie, come on in.”Artie rolls himself into the hallway, his eyes moving around everything swiftly, as if he is expecting Tina to be hiding behind the framed picture of Blaine’s parents. “Everyone else is just through here.” He gestures for Artie to follow him down the hallway. “Tina, this is Artie, I believe you two have met briefly before.”

Tina glances over at Artie with a speculative glare before putting on her best smile and reaching forward to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you under different circumstances, Principal Abrams.”

“Please, call me Artie,” he replies with more warmth in his voice than Tina could muster in her greeting.

Andrea pops up from behind her mother and grins at her principal. She signs about her excitement to see her principal for Christmas break and asks why he is here. Blaine is about to lean down to tell Artie what she said, but Artie is already signing back a salutation much to Blaine and, by the looks of her shocked reaction, Tina’s surprise.

“I didn’t know you knew ASL,” Tina says, her voice a little more welcoming than before.

A blush arises on Arties face as he waves a nonchalant hand. “I use my hands more than most people, might as well put them to better use than to just rolling myself around on this old thing.” He grins and pats down on the arm rest of his wheel chair. “Of course, I’m still learning so you’ll have to forgive me if I need a translator every now and then.”

Tina’s smile is genuine after that and Blaine has to mentally give Artie another high five for clearly going through a lot of work just to make Andrea and her mother more comfortable with him. It isn’t long before Andrea is asking Artie to follow her to the TV so he can explain what the cartoons are saying, and Tina gives Blaine a small look of pleased confusion before following the two of them.

Michael appears under the kitchen threshold with his cup of eggnog in one hand and Blaine’s in the other. He silently holds out Blaine’s cup for him to take, which Blaine can’t refuse. They stand together in the door way while Blaine signs about Artie to keep from breaking the conversation happening between the three new friends by the TV.

Something about their relationship is different, they are finally friends. At least, Blaine thinks they’re friends. He wants to believe that they are friends and that all of the childish jealousy Blaine felt before would just fade away and all the flustered and hidden thoughts about other things would fade as well. Deep down Blaine admits to himself that none of that stuff is going to leave; it is just going to be buried so heavily under their friendship that he wouldn’t have to worry about it.

* * *

It’s Christmas Eve and Blaine finds himself resting in on Mike’s couch while Tina helps Andrea unwrap her presents. Andrea coos over her new crayons and coloring books while Tina remarks that she is taking after her father because she is determinedly coloring in the lines.

He helps Andrea set up her new Barbie house so the Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers take separate rooms, while Tina and Mike talk in the kitchen. Blaine figures that they forget he isn’t deaf or they forgot he is there at all because they don’t keep their voices down.

“So, you never answered by question about Sam.”

“It was okay,” Blaine could almost hear him shrug. “He’s already attached to someone else.”

“Oh? I thought Blaine was just making it up so I didn’t pressure him to go on a second date.”

“Wait, you set Blaine and Sam up before?”

“Yes?” Tina’s voice sounds hesitant. It’s clear she doesn’t think that Michael is as easy to tease as Blaine is. Blaine doesn’t know if that puts him higher on the friendship scale or lower, then he mentally berates himself for treating it like a competition…again.

“I don’t even know what to say to that, you have serious issues, Tina,” Michael says with obvious annoyance.

“Well, sorry for wanting my two best friends to be happy.”

“I don’t need just anyone to be happy, Tina,” he sounds hurt and Blaine suddenly feels like he should sink away in the ground to avoid hearing any more of their conversation. His ears disagree with him as they seem to tune into the rest of their conversation if though it is practically whispered.

“I’m sorry, Mike” he hears her voice crack. “That was completely out of line. I should have asked you to take him out. I shouldn’t have pressured you.”

Blaine hears Michael breathe out a long exhale before responding. “I know. It’s okay. It’s been like two years anyway.”Blaine knows that Michael believes himself as he says it.

They stay in the kitchen a little longer, Blaine assumes they’re hugging, and when they come out he pretends to be enthralled with Andrea’s idea of a Ninja Turtle and Power Ranger Barbie House Battle.

“Blaine,” Tina says in a sing song voice to get his attention. “I got you another gift,” she throws a small wrapped present at him and he catches it, ready to protest. “Calm down, it was only like five dollars at the gas station, I’m not spoiling you.”

Blaine is halfway done with pulling off the wrapping paper when his stomach tugs unpleasantly. It’s a book with Taylor’s pen name written in bold letters at the bottom of the cover, above that is a picture of a strong, adventurous looking man with cold blue eyes, clinging to him is a busty woman with thick curly black hair and deep brown wide eyes.

“I saw your collection when I was at your place, I figured you would want this one because it wasn’t with the rest of your collection, but it’s only been out for a few months…Blaine? Do you like it?” Blaine swallows thickly and nods, not really sure how he is going to respond. “You know, Sam is actually related to the author. I’m sure he could introduce-”

“No!”Blaine shouts so loud that Tina and Michael jump. “I mean-I’ve actually met him, Taylor-I’ve met the author,” he forces a grin even though he is sure his face is bright red. “Thanks.” He looks down at the book and flips through the pages before ceremoniously placing it next to his other present, a piano book that Tina made him swear he would practice so they could all sing around the piano one day with wine and ugly turtleneck sweaters next to a fireplace. Tina gives him an odd look and he continues to beam uncomfortably at her.

He thinks that he has gotten away with any questions that might arise from his reaction but when he gets home, shivering from the cold and bundled up in a scarf as he sets his stuff down on his coffee table, his phone rings. Tina is calling.

Blaine sighs, ready for whatever she is going to say to him. He slides his finger lazily across the screen to answer. “Hello, Tina.”

“Sounds like you’re happy to talk to me!” She replies sarcastically.

“I am, I just got home from my friends house and it was so boring that it made me ridiculously tired,” he exaggerates a long yawn.

“Oh, shut up and tell me what all that was about?”

“What all what was about?”

“Oh come on, the book I gave you? I thought you would be-you know- happy, that I got it for you but you looked more like I killed a puppy in front of you. So you need to tell me what happened between you and the author, because that is obviously what this is about,” she gives him her don’t-doubt-my-ways-of-making-you-talk tone and Blaine cringes.

“How did you know?”

“I’m in the shadows, Blaine. I’m always watching and observing, waiting to strike!”

“Like a vampire?”

“Like an awesome _spy_ vampire, Blaine. Can you see me dressed in black trench coat and a fedora while clinging onto the wall next to your window, waiting for the right moment? Can you?” Blaine glances over at his window for a second before shaking his head.

“You are weird and I don’t know why we are friends.”

“Don’t try to avoid the subject.”

Blaine lets out a frustrated huff. “Alright, I know Taylor. I read those books because I had a crush on him. He was a parent of one of my students my first year and he told me he and his wife were separating. We slept together-a lot-and then I found out that he was never planning on leaving his wife. The end.” He lets out a strained breath “Anyway, I’m over it I just don’t like to talk about it.”

There is silence on Tina’s end, he closes his eyes and hopes that she’ll say something soon. After a few more moments Tina clears her throat dryly. “Wow, sorry. That-that sucks.”

“I’m over it.” Blaine repeats, more to himself than to her. “It’s been three years.”

“That’s what Mike was saying earlier, I didn’t believe him either.”

“Well, since you’re so perceptive then tell me why I’m going to pick up that book you bought me and I’m going to sit down and read it,” Blaine doesn’t move from his couch, he’s not going to even look at the cover of that book.

“Oh really? Are you going to tell me what it is about sometime next week or something? Because believe me, I will…look up the synopsis online. I’m sorry, I’m not going to read that book, it looks terrible.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s a really bad writer. That’s probably why you found it for five dollars at a gas station.” They laugh for a good minute before Blaine calms down enough to ask Tina, “Will you not mention what happened to anyone? I’ve already told Prinicpa-Artie, but I don’t want anyone that doesn’t need to know about it to find out. _Especially_ Taylor’s wife and son.”

There is a pause, “you told Artie?”

“Of course, he’s my boss, he needed to hear it from me and not from someone else.”

“Let me rephrase that; you told Artie and you didn’t get in trouble?”

“No, I explained the situation and he let me off with a warning about fraternization with my student’s parents. It’s not illegal or anything to date a parent. It is illegal to have sex in a school building though. I think I might have let that part slip from my speech.”

“You had sex at your school?”

“Yeah,” Blaine feels his face heat up and it’s not because of how snuggled he is in his scarf and beanie. “That’s a secret you need to take to the grave.”

“Was it-was it hot? Was it in your classroom.”

“Yes, and I’m not telling you.”

“Good thinking, I don’t want to know,” Tina audibly shudders. “I can’t believe-”

“I know, I was young and things got carried away. I wasn’t planning on ending the school day with a dick in my mouth okay?”

“Yeah, because 24 is _so_ different from 27.”

“It is!”

“Shh shh, Michael’s coming down from his studio,” Tina suddenly whispers. Blaine rolls his eyes in response. He knew that Tina had moved in before their lease was up, but he didn’t think that her talking on the phone would bother Michael.

“What, you don’t want him to know you’re talking on your phone? Will you get grounded for using it after 10 or something?”

“No, shut up. I just don’t want him to know that I’m awake so he can still have his privacy while he’s painting. He only paints when no one else is around. He’s weird like that. Okay, he’s heading back upstairs. Speaking of Michael,” Blaine feels his stomach churn in a sort of mix of anticipation and wariness before she carries on. “I asked him what he thought of you today.”

“Oh?”Blaine sits up on his couch and yanks his scarf off from around his neck, suddenly feeling very awake. “Why did you do that and what did he say?”

“Because you’re my two best friends and I want you guys to like each other and he said that you are warm and kind of dorky and that he likes you. I don’t know exactly what he means by “warm” but I’m guessing it’s just that welcoming aura you have about you. Either that or he has touched you and decided that you’re a physically warm person that could replace a warm cup of coffee.”

Blaine removes his hat and throws it over the back of the couch. He doesn’t tell her the imagery that pops in his head after her last sentence. “He said that? He probably just said that because he didn’t want you to get upset. Do you think he said that because he didn’t want you to get upset?” He tries to get the frantic out of his voice.

“No, calm down. He’s a very honest person.” Tina laughs for a beat before continuing. “What do you think about him?”

“I’m not telling you, you’ll tell him like you just told me what he thinks about me. Unless you’re the one that is lying and you never asked him.”

“What are you, twelve?”

“No-”Blaine pouts. “Fine,” he relents as he makes his way to his bedroom. He thinks about the few conversations that he has had with Michael, the occasional smile that would sometimes light up Michael’s usually stoic face, and the lightness of his laugh. Blaine can’t exactly pinpoint what he feels around Michael. It’s cushiony and feathery, it brings a smile to his face when he thinks about it before going to bed. “Soft,” Blaine blurts out. “Michael is soft and quiet,” kind of like a day under blankets while it’s storming outside. “And I like him, too-as a friend.”

“Okay, you’re warm and Michael is soft. Its clear-”Blaine felt his breath hitch in momentary fear “-I have the two weirdest friends in the world.”

“It takes one to know two,” Blaine lets out with a relieved chuckle.

After a few more empty insults to each other, they say good night and Blaine is stuck looking at the ceiling of his room, thinking of how Michael thinks he is warm. Blaine feels warm at the thought, like his heart is sinking into a comfortable flame. He dreams about Michael smiling at him and curses when he wakes up in the middle of the night, forcing himself to acknowledge that he definitely likes Michael enough to spend a night thinking and dreaming about him, enough to forget about the book he received earlier that night, still sitting on his coffee table. 

* * *

By New Years Eve Blaine is more comfortable with admitting that he has a crush on his the father of his best friend’s child. But he is less comfortable around Michael. Before Taylor, he was never shy about flirting or being forward or even just confronting something head on, but now it’s like his confidence has died or left on a long vacation, the very thought of confronting Michael makes Blaine feel so nervous he thinks he is going to throw up. The fact that Michael clearly isn’t ready to date anyone also makes Blaine keep his “warm” friendly smile up and his trademark flirtatious grin hidden. He can wait to get over his silly crush or wait for Michael to be more approachable.

They aren’t getting drunk on New Year’s Eve. They are staying up to play monopoly and rootbeer floats, not for Andrea of course. Blaine has a claim on the dog while Tina begrudgingly takes the iron because Michael, with his small smile, takes the man with a horse. “You only took him because you know he’s my favorite.” Mike’s smile grows and he shakes his head.

Andrea falls asleep on the staircase around ten, not willing to give up her sleep to stay up to greet the New Year, and Michael carries her the rest of the way to her room.

They laugh and joke around and Blaine feels happy that he didn’t waste his New Year’s Eve getting so plastered again. Michael smiles at him and he smiles back and they’re a combination of warm and soft that makes Blaine start to grin from ear to ear so much that Tina sends him a couple of questioning looks to which he responds with a light and cheerful shrug.

After the clock strikes twelve and the three of them clank their rootbeer floats together Blaine decides that he is going to head home. He gives Tina a hug and Michael an awkward side-hug—he really doesn’t know where their relationship stands, are they good friends, or are they just friends? It makes him even more uncomfortable. He does feel like he has connected with Michael on a good and friendly level but he doesn’t know what level that is exactly.

He’s so distracted by his thought process that he only realizes that he forgot his keys when he gets to his car door. He lets himself back into Michael’s apartment and is about to proclaim that he forgot his keys when he hears Michael and Tina talking in the kitchen again. He stops and listens, knowing that it’s wrong but more a part of his nature than anything. Why should he deny his natural instincts? It’s not like he has natural instincts to kill and maim, just listen in on things he shouldn’t be listening to.

“So, I know that I said I wasn’t going to talk about it anymore-”Tina says quickly.

“But know that we’re talking about something you don’t want to talk about it’s a good time to bring it up?”

“I don’t mind talking about that-I just-since we’re pretty much on the same subject but for you-”

“-I told you I wasn’t interested in going on a date with Brittany-”

“Not Brittany, Mike. But what about,” she paused before rapidly finishing her speech. “What about Blaine?”

There is a pause and Blaine feels like his heart his going to jump out of his throat. “What? Blaine? Seriously?”

“I mean you like each other-”

“As friends, Tina. Drop it.”

“I know as friends but maybe-”

“No, Tina. I’m not interested in him, okay? Drop it.” Michael said, his voice elevating from annoyed to angry.

Blaine swallows and nods, accepting it seconds after it’s said. The air seems almost light as he looks wildly around for his keys, desperate to get out of there and away from Michael and Tina. He feels his heart racing and pounding frantically when he finally finds his keys and silently makes his way back outside into the cold. When he gets home he sits in his car and stares at the snow falling down. He’s not going to cry, he’s not attached enough to the idea of Michael and him to cry. He is upset, more upset than he thought he would be when he mulled over the thought of blatant rejection before. In retrospection, Blaine thinks he should have known that it wasn’t just because Michael isn’t over the death of his fiancé but that Michael isn’t and wouldn’t be interested in Blaine that way anyway. Blaine doesn’t know what Kevin was like but he imagines that he is marginally different from Kevin from the shocked looks that Michael often gives him when he says something a little too blunt and straightforward.

He lets out a frustrated groan and gets out of his car. He starts thinking that he deserves the churning in his stomach but cuts his own thoughts off because he knew that this would happen, he knew that his thing for someone he barely knew wouldn’t pan out well and that he didn’t even attempt to get his hopes up too much. So why is it so obnoxiously chewing away at him?

Blaine trudges up the stairs to his apartment as he gets more and more frustrated with himself for being so confusing, for not being about to predict his own emotions. He flops onto his couch with a dull _thwump_ and glares at the ceiling like it was making fun of him. Blindly, he reaches for something he stuffed under the foot of his coffee table so it wouldn’t wobble and brought it up to his face, it was like he was torturing himself by looking at Taylor’s penname in bold red letters. He flicks on his lamp and furrows his eyebrows as he begins to read.

 

 


	2. Part Two

The girls name is Blair, she is the main love interest to the hero demon hunter. She is a teacher, big shocker there, and is also strong and stubborn until the hero finally breaks her resolve by saving her life from some demon that was for some crazy reason possessing a robot. Blaine ends up holding the book by its side during the graphic sex scene while the blood drains to head because he’s sitting upside down on his couch. He decides that Blair is definitely a more sexualized and gender changed version of him, not because he’s trying to flatter himself, but because he remembers saying half of her dialogue before they sleep together for the first time to Taylor the night he broke off their affair. Clearly he isn’t the only one that remembers that night vividly.

When he finishes it the sun is starting to creep through his window and he realizes that he spent the first five hours of the new year reading a terrible horror novel that was really just porn. He watches the book as he tosses it onto the coffee table, it lands so the pages crumple under the weight of the cover.

He doesn’t realize that he falls asleep until he finds himself jerking awake at the sound of his phone ringing. He glances at the clock on his phone before answering with a grumble. “Its six thirty what do you want?” He drags his words out like he used to when he was a teenager and his parents were making him get up early on the weekend.

“Are you just waking up?”

“Shut up, I went to bed really late or really early, whichever you prefer. Who is this?” He sits up with great effort and blinks rapidly to get his eyes to focus. He feels clammy and gross so he sends a hopeful look to his bathroom door, mentally praying for the power to teleport instead of having to get up and walk the long distance into the shower.

“It’s Mike,” Blaine stands up so fast that he gets dizzy.

“Hey, Mike,” he says as casually as he can. He leans against a nearby wall and then shakes his head at himself, he doesn’t need to _act_ casually, it’s not like Mike can see him. “Something you need?” There is a long silence and Michael doesn’t respond. “Mike? Hello?”

“Oh, sorry. I guess I just got lost in my own thoughts. Tina’s birthday is two weeks from now, I was wondering if you would like to help me pick out a present?”

“Me? Really?”

“Well, you are her best friend.”

“That is true, I wouldn’t want you picking out something she doesn’t want. It’s not like you’ve known her longer than me or anything,” Blaine says with heavy but not unkind sarcasm.

He gets a warm laugh in reply and feels a familiar ache of wanting surge through him. There is nothing wrong with just hanging around Mike for a brief time. They were both men! They were both straightforward and one direction oriented, no hint –dropping or spending hours around their gender’s clothing section. They aren’t going to try on outfit after outfit and check each other out like some romantic comedy montage. It definitely won’t take that long, Blaine hopes.

“It’s that I don’t get her-I just-never mind, forget I aske-”

“No! No! I’ll go. She’s quiet picky and demanding. I’m sure we can help each other out, Mike,” why was he pushing this? He shouldn’t be spending more time—alone—with Mike.

There is another pause before Mike responds. “Great! Are you free tomorrow?”

Blaine rubs his hand over his mussed up hair and lets out a feeble chuckle of consent. “Yeah, absolutely.”

“Should I bring Andrea?”

_Yes, absolutely, that kid is such a great distraction._ “Nah, we’ll be okay, plus she can’t keep secrets very well.” Blaine is starting to suspect that his brain isn’t attached to his mouth.

“Yeah, I was thinking that too.”

_Oops! Something came up! Looks like I can’t go with you!_ “Alright, see you tomorrow then.” Blaine hangs up before his mouth tries to turn the trip into a date because that would have ended awkwardly.

After a few moments of panic, Blaine brushes it off and remembers that he was feeling gross and in need of a shower before Mike had called. He is still slightly panicking about his plans with Mike but he reassures himself that simple crushes like these can be easily stamped out, the only reason he was more disappointed than he predicted is because he hasn’t been with anyone for three years. He’s been through the “small crush” phase millions of times with some of his co-workers, there was a brief month when he had a thing for 5th grade teacher Sebastian and when he liked Kurt, the choir instructor, for about a week, both were gay but Blaine only liked Sebastian because he seemed to have a little bit of Taylor’s adventure and he only liked Kurt because he is gay and for some reason that was only thing that mattered at the time. He even developed one on the salesman at the gap he used to shop, that lasted for a few months and he now finds himself with a drawer full of socks that he hasn’t even opened.

Blaine gives himself a few more days until Mike stops giving Blaine that warm little rush of hope every times he smiles even just a little bit. This is probably just a “he’s-attractive-and-bi-so-why-not” kind of situation that will blow over before he feels anything stronger.

* * *

  


When he wakes the next day it’s, again, to the sound of his phone ringing, with a glance at his clock he lets out a loud groan. It was nearly noon and he went to bed a mere five hours ago. Muttering to himself about staying up and ready a shitty novel so his whole sleeping schedule was thrown off, Blaine answers the phone with a grunt.

“Do you always sleep in this late?” It is Mike again and he sounds amused.

“That would be impossible, seeing as school usually starts at eight in the morning.” Blaine stumbles out of his bed partially because he is still waking up and partially because Mike just let out a warm appreciative laugh.

“Taking advantage of the break then. I’m on my way so you better get ready.”

“Uh,” Blaine wakes up more at the prospect of having to leave soon and turns quickly to his closet. “Not fair, I still need to shower and get dressed and do my hair.” He grabs a pair of his best jeans and a navy sweater. “I’ll unlock my door and you can let yourself in, okay?”

“Sure,” Mike replies, still laughing a little, which sends Blaine into a more frantic pace.

When he gets out the shower he realizes that he left the clothes he picked out on his bed and hits his head onto the shower wall a few times just to make sure it’s clear to himself that he is an idiot. He takes a quick glance in the mirror to makes sure his eyebrows aren’t doing that weird thing they do when they get wet and pushed up because he always feels like a super model in the shower that has to dramatically push his hair away from his forehead. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he takes a deep breath and opens his bathroom door. Mike is sitting on the couch, flipping through Taylor’s novel. When he looks up he blinks as if surprised.

“Sorry, just let me get some clothes on and do my hair,” Blaine pads his way back to his room only to hear an unexpected commentary from Mike, who follows him.

“So is this book about a demon that possesses a robot? Sounds like a Buffy rip off if you ask me,” there is something vaguely different about Mike’s tone, something that Blaine really isn’t used to, but he’s too busy trying to stay modest while changing in front of Mike. It might not be weird for Mike but it is definitely weird for Blaine who has pictured this scene a little too much for comfort. Except usually Mike is the naked one and Blaine is doing the opposite of dressing in those fantasies.

“I never watched it,” Blaine says with what he hopes is a nonchalant shrug as he slips his boxers on underneath his towel. The towel drops when he’s finished and he feels momentarily uncomfortable with showing so much of his skin before shrugging it off. He rushes to get his jeans on, knowing that they were a little more tight-fitting than his other pairs of pants and wishing that Mike would just leave so he wouldn’t have to be watched while struggling to pull them on.

“Oh? It’s pretty good. The first season is kind of badly written if you ask me but-but you like horror so you would probably like it. It’s not horror all the time of course, there is comedy and a-and a romance, it has a hot- a _lot_ of everything really.”

“Contrary to my collecting habits,” Blaine says through the thickness of the sweater he is pulling over his head. “I’m not really a fan of horror.” When he manages a glance at Mike it’s to see that the latter is still flipping through the novel with a determinedly focused look.

“Could have fooled me,” Mike smiles, still not looking up from the book.

“I just-”Blaine glances at the book, wondering how he is going to explain his terrible horror novel collection. “I just knew the author.”

Mike flips to the back of the book where a picture of a still very attractive Taylor. “He’s pretty cute.” Mike says in his annoyingly amused tone.

“And married,” Blaine snatches the book from him and places it on a nearby dresser, trying not to show how flustered he is. “And he’s a terrible writer.”

“Aw, don’t tell Tina that, she paid good money for that book,” Mike was laughing outright as Blaine moves to shove him out of his bedroom.

“Yeah, yeah,” Blaine says after taking his hands off Mike’s very firm arms. It’s only then he notices that Mike isn’t accompanied by his cane. “What happened to your-”

“My cane? I don’t need it anymore.” Mike still has that trace of laughter in his dark eyes. Something is very different about Mike, Blaine hates that he likes it. He also hates that Mike follows him into his bathroom, not because Mike is annoying, but because Blaine is still flustered and really wants to dunk his head into some cold water.

“That’s great! I’m really happy for you,” Blaine manages to say as he avoids looking at Mike and fumbles around with his hair gel. He hears Mike chuckle as he applies the last of his hair gel. “What?” He glares over at Mike, seeing pleased look on the latter’s face.

“Nothing,” Mike laughs again and leaves the threshold of the bathroom so Blaine finally finds himself alone. He takes advantage of his solitude and buries his face in his hands in silent frustration. When he glances up at his reflection he sees that the top of his cheeks are pink. He finds Mike reading through Taylor’s book and sitting on his couch when he is finished.

“Alright, I’m ready,” Blaine says, hoping that Mike will put down the book and just forget about it entirely.

Mike puts the book down on the couch and Blaine instantly leans over and picks the book up. With a determined glare shot at Mike, Blaine opens his closet and throws the book into the box with Taylor’s other books. Mike just blinks in response before shrugging. Blaine feels his mouth quirk up, the way Mike keeps smiling at him, the way his eyes are contributing to his expressions, the way a small dimple indents into his cheek as his grin relaxes into a soft smile, all make Blaine’s chest feel warm.

“You know, you’re kind of different,” Blaine says as they shuffle through the through a shoe store at the mall. Mike looks up from the price tag a pair of black leather knee high boots with a quizzical look.

“Different?” They are both standing on the opposite sides of a shelf and so Blaine leans over it, his arms draping over to the other side. He feels like it’s a flirtatious gesture and knows that he should probably stand straight with folded arms so Mike won’t think he’s trying make a move.

“Yeah, I mean when I met you—I’m going to be completely honest here—I thought you were kind of cold and boring,” Blaine braves it and looks to Mike for his reaction. Mike’s eyes widen a little and he ends up opening his mouth only to bite down on his lower lip, his cheeks coloring a little. Blaine feels his heart skip a beat as he watches Mike’s tongue dart out to lick the spot he was just momentarily biting into.

“Well, I’m going to say that I’m glad you think I am different, it-uh-people have always said that it takes a while for me to warm up to people and for people to warm up to me. I’m not like, anti-social or hateful, I just-I’m pretty shy I guess.”

Blaine is sure that it is something more than that but he is willing to accept Mike’s explanation, though he is distracted for a moment about the thought of warming up he finds his mouth finally doing him good and answering before his brain can process. “That’s alright, I’m just glad that we’re friends now, Mike.”

Mike gives him another confused look, arching his eyebrow and opening his mouth like he is going to say something but shuts it before anything comes out.

Blaine watches and waits until Mike finally speaks. “Me too. Do you think Tina will like these?” He holds up the boots.

“I think that she already has enough black,” Blaine says, shaking his head firmly

“Well if I get her a different color she probably won’t wear them. Maybe I’ll just paint her something.” Mike says with a defeated sigh.

Blaine scoffs. “You make it sound like painting her something would be less meaningful.”

“Well I guess it means something to some people, but other people just say things like ‘oh that’s nice’” Mike raises the pitch of his voice in an overly enthusiastic tone which makes Blaine chuckle, “and then they hang it in a dingy hallway. I did a portrait of my mom for my dad and he keeps it in the bottom drawer of his desk at work.” Mike lets out a derisive laugh.

“Maybe he thinks that she is too beautiful to want other people to see it? Maybe he was so touched by the painting that he wanted to keep it like a secret. We all have secret things that we like to…keep secret.”

Mike shakes his head. “You always try to find the happiest outcome, huh?”

Blaine blinks, unsure of what to say. He settles with, “you still have a lot to learn about me” as he leans closer to Mike, his lips turning up into a teasing smile.

Mike really does have a habit of looking like he is about to say something and then not saying anything at all.

“Give me those boots, I’ll buy them,” he reaches for them and unintentionally touches Mike’s fingers as he grips onto them. He wants to flirtatious drag his fingers over Mike’s but the words “ _I’m not interested in him_ ” rush through his head and so he withdraws quickly as if Mike’s skin had burned him. “I’ll give into Tina’s never ending want for black leather.”

Mike lets his hands fall to his sides. “Yeah, she always gets what she wants.” Mike’s familiar annoyed tone creates tension grits away at Blaine’s skin. He feels a shiver run down the back of his neck.

“Well, that can be true about some things. I doubt she _wanted_ a robot to father her child.” Blaine jokes, which causes Mike to roll his eyes but grin with a smile, Blaine’s fingers to clutch onto the edge of the boots to stop the urge to reach over and run a finger over the small dimple that appears.

“Andrea calls me a robot because I used to dance like one to make her laugh when she was younger. That’s all. I promise that there is flesh underneath this shirt and not wires and switches,” Mike tugs at the collar of his shirt to show the smooth skin underneath. Blaine’s fleeting wish to sentimentally touch Mike switched dangerously fast to a wish to jump over the shelf and tackle Mike.

“That makes me feel a lot better,” Blaine flinches when his voice cracks as he speaks. “I don’t affiliate with A.I. I would have been upset about having to hate you.”

“No, you wouldn’t hate me. I would grow on you like a loveable pet and you would finally see the error of your ways and then promote the movement for A.I. equality.” Mike closes his grin into a soft smile with an adorable shrug that makes Blaine go back to wanting to tenderly kiss Mike. “Just like a cheesy but meaningful movie.”

“No, even as a person that tries to see all the good in everything like you think, I cannot accept artificial intelligence as equal to me,” Blaine says in a snobbish tone.

“I’ll change your mind,” and Mike winks. Blaine has to force himself to look away so he can push all of his confusing emotions and urges down with a single strong swallow.

They, eventually, stop the bantering (Blaine refuses to call it “flirting”) and Mike surprises Blaine when he nods his head toward the food court after they step out of a book store. They eat Subway and Mike ends up paying for it even though Blaine got his wallet out first. (Deep in his delusional subconscious, Blaine pretends that it’s a really casual date.)

Blaine expects Tina and Andrea to be home so he leaves Tina’s present in the car. But when he enters the house he sees only the muscles in Mike’s back as he pulls his sweater up over his head. Mike is wearing a t-shirt under his sweater and a little patch of smooth skin appears as it is hauled up with the sweater.

“They’re not home?” Blaine asks, occupying himself with taking off his jacket.

“Yeah, Tina took Andrea to the music store today since school is off for today.”

“So,” Blaine follows Mike into the kitchen and sits on a stool. “What are we going to do?”

“Well, I was thinking hot chocolate and then I’ll show you the idea I was forming for a painting for Tina, I only have two weeks so I’ll have to get right on painting it.” Mike pulls all the ingredients for his hot chocolate recipe while Blaine leans up on the counter, watching Mike in all of his domestic glory.

“Wait, does this mean that I get to see your studio?” Blaine perks up as Mike slides the mug into his hands.

Michael smirks before covering his mouth with his own mug. Blaine feels a bit a bit of a shock as he memorizes another one of Mike’s fleeting smiles. He thinks to himself that he is going to end up with a ridiculously cheesy list of smiles like the guy in _Win a Date With Ted Hamilton_. Blaine shudders at the idea of his crush on Mike escalating to that level.

“Yeah, but you still owe me,” Mike says after he takes a big gulp of his drink (Blaine will never admit watching Mike’s adams apple move as he drinks.)

“It will have to be at the store because my keyboard is terrible; half the keys don’t even work anymore,” Blaine says with a sigh.

“Why don’t you just get a new keyboard?” Mike’s fingers graze over Blaine’s as takes his now empty mug. His touch prickles over Blaine’s fingers long after it’s gone.

“Yeah, but I don’t play as much as I used to so it would be pretty idiotic to spend like two hundred dollars on something that I’ll probably use like once a year at the most,” Admittedly, Blaine has been playing a lot more recently so maybe it was time to get rid of the old keyboard and buy a new one. “Also, I kind of want to buy an actual piano someday, so I might save up for that.”

Mike nods, understanding, and then gestures for Blaine to follow him out of the kitchen and up the stairs. “Just don’t-uhm-don’t touch anything,” Mike turns and flashes an innocent smile at Blaine before opening the door. Bright sunlight and the oily smell of paint suddenly over comes Blaine’s senses.  

When the light stops blinding him a clear few of a rather large studio appears. The first thing his eyes set on is a painting resting against the wall under one of the large windows. It’s the portrait of a young, handsome man. His eyes are grey-green and full of laughter while his cheeks are indented with harsh dimples that blend perfectly with his straight white teeth. His hair is tousled, loose and dark red, almost brown. Blaine assumes that it’s a painting of Kevin and feels something drop in his stomach. He feels guilty for thinking of Michael the way he does, it makes his palms sweat to see such a happy smile on the face of a dead man. He eventually adverts his eyes from the painting and glances over at Mike, who is busying himself with pulling a new canvas out of a box.

“So there was this place that we used to go back in high school. It was an old orchard that we used to sneak into. Tina and I, and some of our other friends, used to go and climb the trees and just hang out in the shade on some hot days,” Mike hoists the canvas onto an empty easel. He slips a pencil out of his pocket and begins drawing. Blaine glances around at all the other paintings sitting carelessly on by the sides of the walls. Most of them feature the same red-haired man, some are halfway finished, and some are dark. Some of them are of Andrea. And the rest of are beautifully painted landscapes. Blaine looks at a painting of a pink tinted waterfall as Mike continues, “They sold the orchard and started building houses the year we graduated. I was thinking on the way here that maybe I could paint Andrea there. I think Tina would like that.” Mike is focusing on drawing, the pencil scratching onto the canvas.

“That is very…touching. She’ll like it,” Blaine strolls around to see what Mike was drawing. It was a rough and light sketch of a young girl sitting on top of a tree limb. His eyes flick around the studio one more time to see an elaborate computer system set up in one of the corners, Blaine assumes that is where Mike does all his dance work, and a small TV in the other corner surrounded by DVDs. When he looks back toward Mike he’s faced with dark eyes staring at him in confusion. It’s only when Blaine pulls away does he realize that his hand was resting on Mike’s shoulder and that he was leaned in pretty close. Clearing his throat, Blaine repeats himself. “She’ll definitely like it.”

* * *

  


Tina does like it and ends up putting the brightly colored picture in her music store above the front desk so every costumer sees it. Blaine stares at it as the setting sun sends an orange splash over it and otherwise empty white wall while Brittany to ring his new keyboard up. She is smiling at him as he smiles at the painting. It is the beginning of spring and the snow is melting off the roofs and down the windows, causing the orange light to be obscure and blurry against the shades of Andrea’s purple and white dress in the painting. He’s so distracted by the way the painting makes him feel that he doesn’t realize that Brittany is talking to him until she says Mike’s name.

“What?”

“I said that Mike’s really good, right?”

“Oh yeah, totally, he’s really talented,” Blaine responds quietly as he pulls the box containing his new keyboard off the counter.

“How Tina snatched a sperm donor with so many talents I’ll never know. Also, he’s like super hot, right?”

Blaine swallows nervously. “I haven’t noticed.”

“Oh please,” Brittany says, shaking her head in disbelief. “I bet you haven’t been laid in years, how can you not notice him? Especially now without that cane. Tina says he can dance, do you know what that means about his performance in bed?” Brittany is talking to herself more than she is talking to Blaine but he can’t help but flinch when she mentions his lack of sexual activity and then blush at the thought of Mike using those hips for less than innocent purposes. But he ends up shrugging in acceptance that sex drive was unsatisfied and that probably had a lot to do with his _small_ crush on Mike.

“I don’t know what makes you think that I haven’t had sex in years, but trust me, I’m getting a lot of it…all the time.” Blaine knew that he was caught in a lie the instant he started speaking, purely because of the teasing smile on Brittany’s face. “And just because he’s bi doesn’t mean that I’m attracted to him, I-I’m not that desperate.”

“You don’t need to be desperate to be attracted to that. All you need is eyes and genitals. ”

Blaine chuckles. “I think all the straight men would disagree with you there.”

Brittany sticks her tongue out at him. “But you aren’t a straight man. Come on, I see the way you’re blushing. You like him. I’m an excellent secret keeper, I keep all of Sam’s secrets about that secret crush he has.”

He furrows his eyebrows. “You know about that?” Brittany looks momentarily guilty before flashing as smile and miming a zipper over her mouth. “No, I’m not asking who it is…but I thought it was-wait. It’s not you?”

Brittany burst into laughter and shakes her head. “No, we dated but it didn’t work out. We had a lot of frustrating conversations about my cat. Anyway, I have a girlfriend.”

“Damn, I was so sure that it was you,” Blaine says with a disappointed frown. Brittany continues to laugh.

“And now you’ll never know, because that is how I awesome I am at keeping secrets. So, do you like him?”

Blaine winces again. “I’m not going to give you the satisfaction,” Blaine says in a falsely cheery voice.

“In other words, you like him.”

“Thank you for your assistance today, I’m leaving now.” Blaine says hurriedly as he picks up the keyboard and heads toward the door. He ignores Brittany’s comments about rushing off to stalk Mike.

* * *

  


Brittany continues to drop hints and teasing smiles but surprises Blaine with her ability to keep his secret. She never struck him as someone that thought before she spoke. It makes him a little suspicious about the other secrets she knows or whether or not she really thinks her cat has the ability to read. These are only momentary thoughts in Blaine’s buzzing mind; he has a lot more to worry about.

Nearing the end of the school year Blaine is uncomfortable with how comfortable his life is with Mike. He hates how engrained his emotions for Mike are, how whenever he sees Mike he feels warm but rigid and nervous when Mike touches him. They hang around each other so much that people that assume that they are dating. Blaine hates how often he has to say, “no, we’re just good friends,” or when he hears Mike say the same thing.

 He keeps telling himself that it will all blow over eventually because it has to, because Mike has already made it clear that he isn’t interested in dating anyone. Even if he was interested in dating, Blaine knows that he would be Mike’s last choice. It’s the way Mike smiles at him differently sometimes, almost like he doesn’t get who Blaine is; it’s a confused and simple smile so unlike the grins that he gives everyone else when they joke around with him. Blaine would believe that this special smile is reserved for him because Mike feels something for him, but his rational thought overcomes his delusional thought for once and he determinedly sees it as a sign that Mike just doesn’t know him well enough yet.

These thoughts and feelings don’t keep Blaine awake at night. Well, not every night (maybe once or six times a week.) It’s really not that big of deal.

He is sitting in Mike’s studio, slowly running his fingers over the keys of his keyboard. Mike is painting, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as his wide and dark eyes follow each brush stroke. They often spend time together doing this, sitting quietly in Mike’s studio as Blaine plays his music on the lowest volume while Mike works on painting after painting. Occasionally they talk to each other but it’s not important that they do, even more rarely does Blaine catch Mike staring at him with that trademark confused smile.

Blaine doesn’t realize that he is staring until Mike looks up and raises his eyebrow, questioning.

“Hey,” Blaine squeaks out, flashing a grin. “What are you painting?”

Mike doesn’t respond verbally. Instead he turns the painting around to show a half-finished dancer, her legs stretched out into a leap and her creamed colored tights contrasting beautifully with her dark skin. “She was a friend I had back in New York.” Mike says softly as he turns the painting back.

Blaine is about to express his longing to meet all of Mike’s old New York friends one day when Mike’s phone goes off. Blaine recognizes Tina’s ring tone and sits up, curious.

“Hey,” Mike says, “I thought Sam was helping you with that. No, that’s fine, I understand. I’ll be down in little bit, do you want Blaine to help too?” Mike says, looking over at Blaine. Blaine nods and starts packing up his keyboard. “Okay, we’ll be there in a few.”

“What’s the problem,” Blaine says when Mike hangs up his phone.

“Sam was supposed to help Tina hull some new instruments into her store, but a family emergency came up and he couldn’t make it,” Mike is already putting away his paints and pulling off his paint-stained apron.

“I’ll just take my own car after I’m done packing this up,” Blaine gestures to his keyboard.

“You need any help?”

“I’ve had this keyboard for a few months now, Mike, I can handle myself,” Blaine says teasingly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll see you at the store,” Mike replies lightly and pats Blaine on the shoulder before tossing his apron to the side and heading to the door. Blaine folds up the legs of his keyboard and looks around for his bag. He finds it resting against the small TV, he remembers that when he arrived Mike had been watching something on it and had quickly turned it off when Blaine made his presence known. Curiosity touches him as his hand grazes over the play button. With a sharp intake of breath he presses play and then turns the TV back on.

Music blares out of the TV speakers, it’s some unrecognizable beat and Blaine prays to god that it’s not some kind of porno in a dance studio when Mike steps out in front of the camera and waves shyly. Blaine shakes his head and settles himself a little more comfortable. When he looks back at the screen he feels himself slowly grin as he watches Mike dance. After a few moments his smile fades into a concentrating frown as Blaine’s eyes flick over each move Mike makes, he has smooth skin and limbs that move effortlessly. Blaine feels like his choking on his own heartbeat when the music comes to an end and Mike grins at the camera. He thinks he has seen all of Mike’s smiles but this one shows through his whole body.

He moves toward the camera and says “Come here.” There is a quiet “No” in the background and Mike grins even bigger. “Please come here?” “No, I look terrible.” Mike shakes his head in disbelief but moves out of view of the camera, there is sound of a struggle and some high pitched laughing. Mike reappears with a red-haired man who is blushing so hard his entire face is red, too. “Say hello to Andrea.” Kevin signs a hello, still blushing, before giving Mike a firm kiss on the lips. The kiss leaves Mike a little dumfounded and Kevin tries to get away. But Mike catches on quickly and pulls Kevin back.

Feeling like he is invading Mike’s privacy, Blaine powers off the DVD player and TV. He feels like he is a little drunk with wonder as he pictures Mike’s dancing and the way he would smile at Kevin like looking at him was a sort of need to survive. Blaine longs for Mike to smile at him that way. He wants to watch more of the DVDs (there is one labeled “Happy Birthday, Andrea! From: Kevin and Mike”) but ends up backing up his keyboard, locking the studio behind him, and going out to his car. He really doesn’t want Mike to know what took him so long so he speeds and runs a stop sign or two.

When he gets to the store there is already a truck parked near the back of it, where Mike is using all of the strength he had to help move a piano from the back of the struck into the store. When he sees Blaine approaching he flashes a simple smile before switching his concentration back to the piano, which awakens that heart-in-throat feeling that Blaine had earlier. Blaine stares on, sure that if he admits to himself that he is in love with Mike that his head will probably explode. He does admit it to himself, waits for some kind of extravagant head explosion to happen, and ends up letting out a long exasperated sigh. This is not how Blaine intended for his feelings for Mike to change, he wants the opposite of this.  

When everyone else is inside the store Blaine rests his head against the cold brick surface of the side of the store. He is trying to wait out his heartbeats, making sure that he can be calm when he has to face Mike after this not-so-surprising revelation. His face is red, he is sure, and his hands are a bit shaky.

“Are you okay?”

He jumps away from the building as if it was suddenly hot and looks over to see Mike sitting near the truck, looking a little sweaty and massaging his calf.

“I’m fine,” Blaine says though his voice takes in a betraying higher pitch.  His eyes dart back to Mike’s leg. “Are _you_ okay?” He over-corrects his pitch and it turns out a lot lower than usual. Mike gives him his adorable confused smile and Blaine feels it like a punch in the gut. He officially hates this.

“Yeah, I might have over-exerted myself a little bit,” Mike says with a sigh. “Good thing you’re here, you can use those muscles that you hide under all of those sweaters.”

Blaine scoffs and lets out an involuntary chuckle, a very mainly and definitely not high-pitched chuckle. He pats Mike on the shoulder as he passes him, trying to be as casual as possible, and feels like the spark that he usually feels when in contact with Mike maximize to an electric burn that leaves his fingers warm and twitchy. “I-Ill-uh-I’ll help out as much as I can but I’m pretty sure my strict routine of elementary school food and the exercise program of walking to find a place to sit won’t help me carry pianos.” He picks up two trumpet cases. “Oh yeah, I feel the burn now.” He says with exaggerated heavy breathing. Mike laughs loudly and starts to stand up. Unfortunately, he uses Blaine’s shoulder to support himself until he can get a steady balance. Blaine’s throat goes dry and he feels almost dizzy. A thought is buried in his head at that moment, what if it always feels like this with Mike? What if he never calms down?

“Seriously, are you alright Blaine?” Mike asks, his eyes are wide with concern and Blaine can see just how smooth the amber brown of Mike’s eyes were, the sun glaring off the snow illuminating the shape of Mike’s irises so dangerously that Blaine almost kisses him. Luckily, Blaine is smarter than his instincts this time.

“I’m fine, Micha-Mike. I promise.” Blaine gives Mike a weak smile. Mike continues to stare at him, searching with those dark eyes again, his confused smile turning into a frown.

“Okay, want help with that?” Mike gestures to the cases in Blaine’s hands.

“I can handle it,” Blaine says, his tone exasperated but teasing.  Mike’s hand is still gripping onto his shoulder, it feels like the grip of Mike’s fingers is going to burn through his sweater and into his flesh like some sort of handprint tattoo forever marking Blaine as ‘that guy who is madly in love with Mike Chang’

Mike finally moves his hand and Blaine’s heartbeat slows down an infinitesimal amount. Blaine dreadfully knows that he is totally fucked, and not in the dragging-Mike-into-the-moving-van-and-locking-the-door-until-Mike-agrees-to-fuck-him-over-the-boxes-of-percusion-bells way. Mike walks ahead of him into the store, giving him time to take a loud and exasperated breath.

This is not good.

“So, they broke it off because-get this-Taylor was cheating on her with his publisher,” is the first thing he hears when he enters the main section of the store. He drops one of the cases he was holding, feeling a chill rush through him. It has to be a coincidence. He looks around to see Brittany and Tina standing on either side of the front counter while Mike is attempting to pull Andrea out from her very good hiding spot, all three of them are look at him when he drops the case and curses, Brittany confused, Tina pale, and Mike worried.

“Hey, are you okay?” Mike asks, moving to help him with the dropped case.

“I’m fine, I-I-I got this,” Blaine stammers as he picks the case back up.

“So,” Tina says warily, “it turns out that Sam couldn’t make it because his cousin just got kicked out of his house.” The emphasis on the words “his cousin” caused Blaine to flinch.

“Sam’s going to help Quinn pack up all of Taylor’s stuff,” Brittany says with a pride in her tone. “Taylor is such a skeeve. It’s good that she is finally taking a stand against him. Girl power!”

“That is very nice of Sam,” Blaine says after a long beat of silence while he processed the story. “I hope there won’t be bad blood between him and the rest of his family members because of that.”

“You don’t know the Evans family very well,” Tina says, smiling now. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they are all helping Quinn pack up Taylor’s stuff.”

Blaine merely hums in response and turns his back to Tina, who is still staring at him pointedly.

“I guess we know how he got those books published. I knew there was no way novels that terrible would get published without sex or money being involved.” Mike says in a joking tone. The idea strikes Blaine. Taylor had three books published before they met. Did that mean that Taylor was already sleeping with his publisher when he started sleeping with Blaine? Blaine can’t even find it in himself to be hurt; he is more disgusted than anything else. It feels like he is seeing all the scandal from an outsider’s point of view.

“The best part is, his publisher is a guy,” Brittany says with a harsh laugh. “I don’t know why Quinn didn’t see that she was married to a closet case; I guess it was those good looks.”

“He could be bisexual?” Tina offered.

“No way,” Brittany responds. Blaine can’t handle the talk about Taylor accompanied by his newly discovered feelings for Mike. He sets his cases down and quietly heads out of the room while Tina and Brittany debate about Taylor’s sexuality.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mike has followed him out of the main area of the store.

“Yeah,” Blaine says with a forced smile. “That’s the third time you have asked me that, Mike.” His smile turns genuine as he watches Mike look slightly dumbfounded.

“So this thing with Sam’s cousin, pretty dramatic huh?” Mike stuffs his hands in his pockets leans against the threshold.

“Yeah,” Blaine mumbles, looking around the room at anything but Mike. His palms feel sweaty, his throat feels dry, and the room feels like it’s shrinking in on him and Mike. In fact, he does feel like Mike is getting closer to him. Perhaps to comfort him? Why should Blaine be comforted? What does Mike know about the situation with Taylor? “But, I’m sure Sam will handle it just fine. I don’t know much about the family to be really affected by it all.” Blaine says as casually as he can, picking up a drumstick from one of the drum sets and twirling it around to distract himself.

Mike hums in reply, Blaine can feel Mike’s gaze burning into the side of his face.

After a long beat of silence Blaine speaks up. “There’s still a few more cases in the truck. I’m going to get them.” He starts to walk by Mike only to get a light shove to the side. He looks around to see Mike is passing him and chuckling.

“I got it.”

“Excuse me?” Blaine says, with a surprised gasp, ignoring the burn that Mike’s touch had left tickling the skin on his arm. “I’m strong! I’m a manly man!” Blaine says definitely as he follows Mike out the door. “Don’t let the bowties fool you!”

It is the end of the second to last week of school and all the kids are too rowdy for Blaine to even try and control and so he lets them run wild in his room, making sure to push all of their desks to the side, as he plays his keyboard to give the atmosphere a more playful tone. He’s been playing the keyboard for his kids a lot since he got it and they have absolutely loved it, even Andrea, who was fascinated by Blaine’s fingers as the flitter over the keys. Blaine even spent a night taping little different-colored flags onto each key so she could watch the colors bounce with each note.

She is watching his hands and letting out very pleased laughs whenever he hits the higher or lower notes(because they were her favorite colors), when something else catches her attention. Blaine stops playing and follows her gaze. He gets that familiar but still nerve wracking heart-in-throat feeling when he sees Mike standing next to the open doorway. Mike smiles timidly and waves at the two of them. Andrea begs to go and see her father, but Blaine refuses to let her have precedence over the other kids who haven’t had parents arrive. Andrea throws him her grumpiest face and runs off to play with some of the other kids. Blaine watches her go and then looks up at Mike, who is smiling.

Mike signs a thank you for making his daughter stay and play with the rest of her peers and that her father is much too busy for her attention, he is clearly being sarcastic.  Blaine responds by rolling his eyes and signing that he can’t spoil Andrea just because he is best friends with her parents. Mike’s face contorts into what Blaine assumes is a lapse of concentration before he signs back that Andrea already knows that she is Blaine’s favorite student and Blaine has to admit that it’s true, but a boy named Canyon was catching up to her with all his cute questions about what Blaine was doing with his hands all the time. The topic quickly changes when Mike asks if any of the other kids have learned any sign language. Blaine signs back with an affirmative, he admits that most of the teaching is Andrea during recess. This response gets a proud grin from Mike, causing Blaine’s stomach to flip-flop.

Mike continues by signing that Andrea is lucky to have such a good teacher that teaches her to teach others. Blaine replies that she probably inherited her teaching skills from her dad. They argue about who has the most influence over Andrea before Blaine, determined to make their conversation about Mike and not him, signs that Andrea got her eyes from Mike and they are the cutest thing about her. He sees a clear blush on Mike’s face and feels momentarily victory. Mike replies with a simple wave to brush away the passive compliment.

Blaine bites back a pleased grin and looks down at his keyboard, which he has neglected in lieu of their conversation. He plays a simple tune with one hand and glances back up to catch Mike just looking away from him and back at Andrea. He breathes out shakily and brings his other hand up.

“Alright, by the time I’m done playing this song everyone needs to have everything put away, understand?” His hands sign the words as he speaks and every kid watches them move with interest. They all sign that they understand, though some look upset. He glances up at Mike, who is smiling pointedly at him. Okay, so maybe he did teach the kids some sign language, but it was only because they were so curious. “Now what song should I play today?”

He gets a plethora of replies before holding his hands up to silence them. “Okay, the first one to answer this question gets to pick what song I will play: what is 8 multiplied by 7?”

Hands shoot up eagerly and Blaine calls out, “Alright, Chelsea?”

“Uhm…56?”

“Correct! And what did you want me to play?”

“The ‘are you beautiful’ song!”

Blaine feels himself blush and his eyes inadvertently glance over at Mike, who is leaning against the threshold and grinning, luckily he isn’t looking at Blaine.

“Okay, when I start playing you start cleaning up,” Blaine rests his hands on the keys and smiles warmly when he notices that all the kids are staring at him in anxious anticipation. When he strikes the first set of notes they run into a flurry of cleaning, Andrea in the lead. “ _Do I love you because you’re beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you_ ,” Blaine is determined not to look at Michael as he continues to sing. “ _Am I making believe I see in you, a man-I mean-a girl to lovely to be really true. Do I want you because you’re wonderful, or are you wonderful because I want you? Are you the sweet invention of a lover’s dream,” he feels like his face as turned completely red by now. “Or are you really as wonderful as you seem?”_

He plays out the last part on the piano to give his students time to finish, but by the time he reaches the last verse they are all watching him with smiles. They cheer for him in sign language, their beams and waving hands. Blaine makes an exaggerated bow and then excuses the kids to go. Their parents, now clogging up the threshold to his class room, are clapping as well and Blaine blushes even harder and sends a bow their way. He avoids catching Mike’s gaze.

Mike and Andrea wait for everyone to leave and for Blaine to get ready.

“You want to come over tonight?” Mike asks, hoisting Andrea’s Spiderman back pack onto his shoulder like it belongs to him. “Tina is taking Andrea to see a play with Artie, we could drink and maybe watch a movie.”

This is the part where Blaine would usually ask, _are you asking me out on a date? Should I pack my overnight bag?_ But he stops himself. “If you don’t mind me bringing over math homework I need to grade.”

“Sure, I could help you. 3rd grade math can’t be that difficult.”

“What? You don’t live up to your Asian expectations? It’s their last math homework of the year so it’s pretty hard.” He gets a small punch on the arm for that. Andrea glares at her father and shakes her head at him signing that he should apologize.

“He started it,” Mike says, pouting. She doesn’t care because violence is never the answer. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry that I punched you.”

Blaine nods his head, grinning. “Apology accepted, Mike.”

Andrea then asks if Blaine is going to ride in the car with her and Mike and Blaine is about to say yes when a familiar and unwelcome face peers around the doorway to his room. He feels his stomach twist and drop unpleasantly as those piercing blue eyes connect with his. “Tay-Mr. Evans, can I help you?” Taylor looks the worse for wear, like a man who spent too much time drinking and not enough time sleeping. A divorce and an on-going custody battle can do that to some people, so Blaine has heard.

Mike whips around to see their new company. Much to Blaine’s discomfort, the back of Mike’s ears go red. Blaine feels the humiliation of his past mistakes burn inside of him as Mike turns to look back at him, his face unreadable and stoic.

“Yes, Mr. Anderson. I was wondering if I could have a word with you,” he glances over at Mike and then down at Andrea before pointedly looking at Blaine. “Alone, please.”

Mike visually tenses and Andrea looks around, confused. “I’ll just drive myself, okay?” Blaine says, he rests a hand on Mike’s shoulder and feels the tension slowly dissipate underneath his fingers. “This shouldn’t take long. I’ll be right behind you.” To his surprise, Mike gives him a searching look before nodding sternly and leading Andrea out the door.

Taylor watches them go before turning back to Blaine with his usual charismatic smile. “I don’t think your boyfriend likes me very much.”

Blaine sighs heavily and turns back to his desk, pretending to be distracted by something on it. “He’s not my boyfriend and I’m sure a lot of people aren’t too fond of you due to recent events.” Taylor flinches a little before returning to his grin. Blaine can’t help but notice now how fake Taylor’s smile seems. He realizes that this is the smile Taylor always uses, and briefly wonders why he never saw it before. The disgust for Taylor grows stronger inside of him.

“Not your boyfriend, eh? So you’re still single?”

Blaine really hopes this isn’t going where he thinks it is going.

“I never said I was single.”

“But you didn’t say you weren’t single either.”

Taylor is dancing around him like he used to, but it wasn’t giving him the old butterfly in the stomach results. “Just get to the point,” he says, finally turning to look at Taylor.

“I wanted to see you again,” Taylor looks almost coy about it, but his face falls to a frown when Blaine lets out a loud laugh. “I missed you, Blaine. Now, that I’m getting a divorce I was wondering if we could pick up where we left off. I-uh-you were kind of the influence for latest book.”

Blaine softens a little and leans comfortably against his desk. “I know, I read it. Listen Taylor, that was really…sweet,” _is sweet really the right word?_ “But I’m not really-” before Blaine can finish his sentence Taylor is kissing him and shoving him harder against his deck. He instantly starts to protest, pushing on Taylor’s arms. The burning taste of stale alcohol feels his mouth as Taylor forces his tongue in. Finally he gets a good enough grip and heavily pushes Taylor away. But it’s only then that he finds out that he has help, Mike is yanking the back of Taylor’s shirt and pulling him away from a bewildered Blaine. “Michael, what are yo-” there is a loud _ommf_ as Mike pushes Taylor down to the ground.

“We should go,” Mike says, his voice quiet and his eyes concerned as he looks at back at Blaine.

“Who the fuck do you think you are,” Taylor grumbles angrily as he starts to stand up.

“Let it go, Taylor, I’m not interested,” Blaine snaps, wiping his mouth in disgust.

“That’s not how you use to-”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Blaine says loudly, grabbing Mike’s hand and tugging him toward the hallway. Luckily, Taylor doesn’t follow. “Is Andrea out in the car?” He gets a vague nod from Mike. He is uncomfortable with the stony and silent atmosphere surrounding Mike. “You know,” Blaine smiles a little, “I could have handled him myself. But thank you anyway.” Blaine shivers. “What a creep.” He says nervously. He really doesn’t want Mike to know what Taylor was about to say. He shudders to think about what Mike would think of him if he knew the truth about his past with Taylor.

“Yeah,” Mike replies, his voice still quiet. “I always knew you could handle yourself. I just…” Mike sighs heavily and rubs at the hair on the back of his head. Blaine looks at him expectantly, but Mike avoids his gaze and doesn’t finish the thought.

“Yeah, okay. Listen, I…” Blaine chews on his lip nervously. “About Taylor.”

“I already know,” They stop just outside Mike’s car. “Tina already told me what he did to you.”

Blaine is sure that he is going to die from lack of blood as it drains out of his face. He stares at Mike in horror, his mouth gaping. “Sh-she what?” His voice sounds way too high to be natural. His brain is working so quickly that he can’t grasp any consistent thought. Mike probably thinks that he is home-wrecker. Blaine is never going to talk to Tina again. Everyone is going to find out. Quinn and Gabe are going to find out. Blaine puts his hands up on his forehead in an attempt to massage away his sudden headache. He is concentrating so hard he can’t even hear Mike trying to talk to him until a warm hand rests on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” Mike says. His touch and smile calm Blaine down enough for him to drop his hands. “If he bothers you again just tell me.”

“Once again, not defenseless here,” Blaine says a little jokingly though his voice is shaky. He then looks down at the gravel underneath their feet. Michael is standing so close to him. “What exactly did she tell you?” He feels Mike’s hand tense on his shoulder.

“Just that you two were sleeping together and that he lied to you about being separated. She only told me because I kept bugging her about it.”

“How could you even kno-”

“Well, you got all crazy bashful when I talked about his book and then when we found out that he cheated on his wife with his publisher you were all silent, which isn’t like you at all, I just put two and two together and interrogated Tina about it,” Mike shrugs nonchalantly.

“What, did you shine a bright light in her face?” Blaine feels a teasing smile tug at the corner of his lips.

“That and I put her in a room with two chairs and a table and a one-way mirror,” Michael’s hand moves slowly off his shoulder, dragging down a bit before completely releasing.

“And,” Blaine smile falters as he thinks of the right words to say so he doesn’t sound too needy. “And how does all this make you feel…about me.”

“What do you mean?” Blaine could almost say that Mike is genuinely confused, but he notices a faint blush on the top of Michael’s cheek bones.

“I mean, you don’t think I’m a bad person now do you?”

Mike lets out a nervous laugh, he almost sounds relieved. “No, that’s ridiculous. No one can blame you for falling in love. It’s not your fault that he mislead you.”

“I didn’t,” even though he feels relief wash through him, cleaning most of the messy shame, there is still a little left dripping inside of him.

“What?”

“I nev-never lo-love-loved him,” he feels like he should be smacking his forehead with his palm. Of course he would have trouble saying the word “love” around Mike. “He was just there and interested and he was, for lack of a better word, charming some times. And you said yourself that he is attractive-well _was_ attractive, it’s hard to find him attractive now that I know about the kind of person he really is. Anyway, I know when I’m in-when I lo-” _god dammit! This shouldn’t be so hard to say._ “loved-love someone. I was stupid.”

“Well I hope that next time,” Mike says after a beat, “you’ll wait around for someone you know you love.”

There are so many things that Blaine wants to say. (“I have found some that I love” “I love you, does that count?” “Oh god, stop caring about me so much, it just makes me love you more.”) He ends up replying quietly with. “Yeah, but sometimes the person that one falls in love with doesn’t love him back. Sometimes you have to enter relationships hoping for love to come later, that seems like the more sensible thing to do.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a very sensible person,” Blaine shoves him for that, his cheeks coloring from embarrassment.

“Let’s go before your daughter ends up getting smudges all over your car windows,” Andrea is pressing her face up against the window of the car, pulling faces at the two of them. Blaine manages a strained laugh and Mike just smiles weakly. “She definitely gets those looks from her father.” He says as Andrea crosses her eyes and blows against the window so her cheeks comically blow up. Mike laughs appreciatively and shakes his head as he walks to the driver’s side of the car. Blaine watches him go with a peaceful smile. He supposes that it’s the shaky calm taking over after a rush of adrenaline filled shock, anger, and embarrassment.  

When they get back to Mike’s place Tina shoves a pair of boots in his face. “Do these work? Should I wear flat shoes instead so I’m not too tall? Andrea! Andrea get ready, I laid out a dress for you on your bed,” she is signing frantically and Andrea lets out a laugh before grabbing her bag from her dad and running to her bedroom. “I have no color in my closet!” Tina exclaims after watching her daughter bounce off to her room. “All I have is black! What if Artie thinks I’m some kind of vampire?”

“I doubt he cares what you wear, Tina,” Mike says, amused. Tina glares at him.

“Just wear that one white blouse you have and you’ll be fine. I’m sure you have color, you just never wear it.”

“Oh! I think I remember where it is. Thank you, Blaine,” Tina gives Blaine a quick hug, still glaring at Mike.

After watching Tina scramble back to her room, Blaine looks over at Mike to catch the latter staring at him. “What?” He asks. He feels nervous under Mike’s gaze.

“Before, when I was pushing _him_ away,” he looks down at his hands like a child asking for something he probably won’t get but really wants. “You called me Michael.” He looks back up at Blaine and furrows his eyebrow in confusion. “You haven’t called me Michael in a while.”

Just when he thinks he is done feeling embarrassed for the night, Blaine feels a blush warm his cheeks. “Oh, sorry. I wasn’t really thinking.” The truth is, Blaine has never been comfortable with calling Michael “Mike,” but he knows that everyone else calls him Mike and has never wanted Mike to feel uncomfortable around him. Deep in his subconscious Mike’s name has always been Michael, but he is usually smart enough to not call him that. He feels a little ashamed that he is embarrassed about such a silly thing.

“No,” Mike says quickly. Suddenly his hand is gripping onto Blaine’s arm, lower and tighter than before. His fingers are warm and soft and Blaine realizes just how close they are in the dimly lit hallway of Mike’s apartment. “I mean, I like it when you call me Michael. I was kind of upset when you stopped.”

“Oh,” _what does that even mean?!_ “Okay, Michael. I’ll call you Michael again.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I do want you-I do want to call you Michael, Michael.” He doesn’t even realize that he is whispering or that his chest his heaving. He thinks that maybe he is smiling, his lips feel like they are pulled up but he can’t really pay attention to anything but the way Michael is looking at him with a warm and pleased smile.

“Sam’s having a gig at the store tonight, you guys should stop by.  I’m taking Artie and Andrea after the play,” Tina calls out of her room, breaking the moment and slamming Blaine back to reality.

“What do you think?” He looks back to Mike, hoping to catch the moment that he just let carelessly slip through his fingers.

Michael frowns in concentration before shrugging. “I guess if we feel like it later we can go.” Blaine doesn’t say that he is thinking about staying in all night with Mike with no interruptions.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Tina walks out with a white blouse and a black skirt, turning around a little. “Looks like you’re going to a business meeting.” Blaine says with a wince just as Andrea walks out in a bright blue dress, beaming happily as she turns on the spot. They all sign about how beautiful she looks and she spins a few more times.

“Should I just wear jeans and this shirt?” Tina asks.

“Wear those jeans you wore that day you made Mr. Curtis nearly drop his kid when you bent down to pick up your phone,” Blaine laughs and dodges out of the way of her so she doesn’t have time to physically retaliate. He runs into the living room just as Tina mumbles that maybe he is right. “How come you’re suddenly getting anxious about a date with Artie? I thought you were only a little interested in him,” he sits down and Andrea instantly crawls up onto his lap. He wraps his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. Tina walks in a second later with her jeans in one hand.

“Well at first I was uncomfortable because he’s kind of a huge dork but,” Tina pulls on her pants underneath her skirt. “But it just kind of suddenly hit me that I really like him,” she’s blushing as she grins. “You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Blaine says slowly, he glances up at Michael, who is standing in the doorway, but looks away quickly when they make eye contact.

Andrea starts signing but Blaine can’t see it from his position. From Tina’s reaction he can tell that it is something embarrassing. Tina signs that Andrea is being ridiculous and they would need to go on a lot more dates, four or five years of dates, for something like that to happen. Andrea folds her arms and pouts, leaning back further against Blaine.

There is a knock on the door and Tina blushes even more. “Speak of the devil.” She runs a hand through her hair and straightens her blouse, tossing her abandoned skirt behind a potted plant. “I’ll get that later,” she explains to a disgruntled Mike as she hurries to the door. Andrea wiggles out of Blaine’s grip and follows her mother. Blaine watches as Mike fishes the skirt out from behind the plant, paying close attention to the outline of Mike’s back against form-fitting vest. Blaine allows himself to believe he is merely admiring Michael’s fashion choices…and nothing else.

For a small moment Blaine thinks that everyone else is going to return to the living room, but instead he hears a hurried goodbye and receives a quick and messy kiss on the cheek from Andrea before she gives one to her father and runs back to the hallway.

They’re alone again and Mike is putting a movie in and sitting next to him on the couch before Blaine has time to think of how to avoid the urge to cuddle next to Michael. Blaine has his usual problem of not being able to concentrate when Mike is sitting right next to him so he can’t summarize the first half of the movie or even make it through five homework assignments and doesn’t even bother with either during the second half because somehow Michael has taken it upon himself to become Blaine’s personal masseuse.

It started out with Michael stretching his arm over the back of the couch, and then the next thing Blaine knows the heat of Mike’s fingers his resting on the back of his neck, playing with the curls there. He was about to ask Michael what he thought he was doing when another hand was placed on his shoulder. Blaine vaguely remembers Michael saying something about being tense before the bliss of warm and strong fingers caressed all the tense parts of his neck and shoulders. If he lets out a few moans he can’t be blamed. Somewhere in between the third and fourth pleased groan, Blaine fell asleep. He wakes him against the body heat and strength of another human being.

“You put me to sleep,” he grumbles into Mike’s shirt, too tired to realize that he _is_ cuddling with Michael. He feels the shake of Mike’s silent laughter under his hands.

“It only lasted like 20 minutes,” he can feel Mike’s finger softly tracing lazy circles over his back.

“I’m sure that is very disappointing for you,” Blaine grumbles sarcastically as he sits up. Mike doesn’t respond as Blaine rubs at his eyes and then checks his hair for any stray or frizzy hair. “Did we finish the movie?”

“Yeah.”

“What was it about?”

“I can’t remember. Something about one of the French revolutions, I think,” they both chuckle, while Blaine looks up at Michael, finally coherent enough to realize his face was just buried in Mike’s shirt and he didn’t pretend to be a sleep for a good long hour like any sensible person in love with Michael should have (he’s also pretty surprised that his dick isn’t hard). He clears his throat as he takes in the sight of Mike relaxing against the arm rest, his legs on either side of Blaine’s torso. Blaine looks away and blushes, thinking of the many times he has thought of being in-between Mike’s legs. Testing out the waters, even though he knows he shouldn’t, Blaine grabs the leg behind his back just high enough on Mike’s thigh that would be considered suggestive in any situation. He is pleased when Mike’s entire body tenses. He picks up the latter’s leg and carefully lifts it over his head and rests it in his lap along with the other leg. He sits back against the couch and smiles over at Mike, who returns the smile after a moment of dumbstruck confusion clear on his face.

Blaine picks lightly at a stray thread of Mike’s slacks. “Stop that,” Mike protests, “I like these pants!”

“Tina can fix them, she’s good with sewing,” Blaine tugs a little harder at the thread and it breaks free without causing too much damage to Michael’s pants.

“When I thought about you destroying my pants it was in a more pleasant way,” Mike grumbles as he stretches back against the arm of the couch, closing his eyes.

Blaine lets out an uncharacteristic squeak. “What?” He stares at Michael in awe as the latter keeps his eyes closed and his mouth curled up in a smirk.

“I was joking, Blaine,” he smirk forms into a grin.

“You’re so hilarious, Michael.” Blaine says with a unstable voice before he pushes Mike’s legs off his lap which causes the latter to tumble off the couch. Mike sits up quickly and flashes a goofy smile at Blaine. Glaring, Blaine pushes Mike’s face away. “You promised me drink.”

“So I have to get you drunk in order for you to pleasantly destroy my pants?”

Blaine flushes and that gets a laugh from Michael. “I’m starting to think you have already had a few drinks, the way you’re acting.” Mike smiles and folds his arms over Blaine’s lap, smiling innocently. “Would you stop that?” Blaine pushes Mike’s face again. He’s is serious when he says it, even though he is smiling.

“Stop what?” Mike waggles his eyebrows.

Blaine stands up from the couch and avoids Mike’s touch as he slides away. “In the fridge?” He doesn’t wait for Michael’s response and heads toward the kitchen. He’s not sure if Mike is following him, but he feels so dizzy and he can’t focus on anything but the pounding of his heart in his ears. He realizes that this is probably the worst day of his life. First everything with Taylor and now how close Michael is getting to him. It makes him feel giddy but miserable at the same time. He tries to blink away the tears that surprise him as he looks in the fridge for a beer.

“Blaine?” He can tell that Mike is behind him. Could things get any more frustrating?

“Yeah?” He asks as casually as he can. “Want me to get you one?”

“What’s up?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry if I upset you, you know I was just joking with you.”

“I know,” Blaine says as he turns around with two bottles of cold beer. He hopes that his eyes aren’t too watery. “Here, take one to calm down your libido.” He flashes a smile and hands Mike one of the bottles.

Mike doesn’t reply. Instead he leans up against the wall next to the door and fiddles thoughtfully with the bottle. His hands are turning the amber liquid around and around as he stares at Blaine and Blaine stares back expectantly. Blaine feels the tension in the air thicken and his mouth feels suddenly dry. He figures that Mike probably feels it too because his tongue darts out for a small moment and runs across his bottom lip. Blaine feels like he watches that moment in slow motion, his eyes follow it before he can feel any shame.

“Blaine.”

“Yeah?”

“When I saw Taylor today, I was furious,” Mike is focusing on his bottle as he speaks. “Because I knew what he did to you and what he did to his wife and child and you were just treating him so casually,” Mike takes a shuddering breath, Blaine doesn’t like where this is going. “I was angry and confused that you would let him treat you that way and then let him talk to you again. Then I thought that maybe you still had feelings for him,” Mike’s voice goes a few pitches higher at the end of the sentence and he has to clear his throat. “And that made me even more angry and-” he finally looks up and into Blaine’s eyes. “And it made me jealous.”

Blaine has to set his drink down on the counter so he doesn’t drop it onto the ground as he mulls over everything Michael just said. “You were jealous.” Blaine thinks that something is on fire in his chest and his heart has moved into his fingers.

“Yeah, and I’m sorry that I have been too forward tonight,” Mike licks his lips again. “I was really just…I don’t know-I wanted-I like to take things slow, but I was worried that you were still thinking of him as an option still. Even though you said you didn’t love him you still said that sensible people enter relationships in hope for love in the future. I didn’t know what to do or how to let you know that I was an option.”

Blaine is pacing back and forth as Michael says all of this, he is rubbing his hand over his chest, trying to calm his heartbeat down. He feels too hot and overwhelmed with all of this information. “But you said that you weren’t interested in me,” he hears himself say, it feels like someone stole his voice and is talking somewhere in the background. “When Tina asked you said you weren’t interested.” Blaine looks over to see that Mike is gaping at him and his face his pale.

“I hardly knew you, Blaine. I mean I did but not enou-and I was attracted to you from the start, even when Andrea and Tina would talk about you over our Skype calls. I didn’t really start feeling anything really big until Andrea brought her family picture back from school and I saw you in that adorable picture,” Mike ends up laughing nervously and his voice squeaks again. “Anyway, that’s not the point, I’m sorry about tonight, I can tell that I made you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know that I’m an option.”

Blaine nods vigorously, still pacing. “I acknowledge you as an option, Michael.” _I acknowledge you as an option? This isn’t a fucking business meeting! Don’t mess this up, Blaine. Use your words._

“You acknowledge me as an option,” Mike repeats slowly.

“No!”

“I’m not an option?”

“Yes, I mean no-fuck-Michael,” Blaine takes a long breath before continuing, “I’m really nervous right now because you are really taking me by surprise. I thought my feelings for you were a lost cause because you told Tina you were interested and you haven’t acted interested until-yeah-until just now. I was really hurting tonight, to be honest, because you were being all flirty and it hurt but felt good and that thing with Taylor and how you said you wanted me to call you Michael again. I’ve always wanted to call you Michael but I thought that if I was going to be your friend I would need to call you Mike like all your other friends do. And I so badly wanted to be your friend because I’m a fucking masochist. This day has just been so full of everything and I understand the idiom “emotional rollercoaster” too much now. You’re an option, Michael. You’re my first and only option. I don’t mean that in a well-there-is-no-one-else-so-I-might-as-well-get-with-Michael way but in the I-can’t-get-you-off-my-mind-and-I-have-gotten-to-the-point-where-I-don’t-even-try-to-stop-thinking-about-you-because-I’d-rather-feel-this-way-about-you-with-the-pain-than-never-know-what-it’s-like-to-lo-” _too soon to mention love, Blaine_ , “deeply-care-about-you…way.” He doesn’t even realize that he has his eyes closed and his fists clenched until silence takes over the kitchen.

He opens one eye to see that Michael is still leaning against the wall and staring at the ceiling. There is something loose about the atmosphere now that everything is out in the open, their words floating around them, unable to be caught and kept secret again. Blaine considers the moment and takes advantage of it; his longtime urges to touch Michael can finally be satisfied. It’s so simple. Blaine moves quickly in front of Michael and pulls on the latter’s shirt harshly so they’re forced to embrace. Michael’s arms wrap around him instantly. The heat of Michael’s touch is no longer accompanied by that longingly anxious feeling.  Instead, Blaine feels a calm excitement for the future.

“Blaine?”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m sorry you’ve been through so much today,” when Michael whispers in his ear it tickles.

“The funny thing is, I’m not sorry. Though, you might owe me something for not showing me you were interested,” Blaine pokes Michael hard in the side.

“Same can be said about you, Blaine.,” Michael retaliates with a tighter squeeze.

“Eh, let’s forget about both of our stupidities. I want to touch you like this a little bit longer before I have to go back to reality,” he says, his voice muffled by Michael’s shoulder.

Before they can take it any further they hear a commotion in the hallway and have an unspoken agreement to pretend like they weren’t just cuddling against the kitchen wall as they break apart.  Blaine is sure he is going to be smiling the rest of the night.

When Tina finds them in the kitchen she is too distracted with trying to convince them to go to Sam’s show to notice how closely they are standing next to each other or how Michael’s hand doesn’t leave Blaine’s back until they are putting on their coats.

Andrea sits in between them on the car ride there and stares questioningly at them when Michael and Blaine hold hands over her lap. Eventually she accepts it and puts her hands over theirs, clearly pleased with their actions. Tina and Artie are too busied by their conversation to notice.

By the time they get to the store Andrea has fallen asleep against Michael’s shoulder. Tina asks Michael to take Andrea to her office so she can sleep on the couch in there. Blaine helps Tina with Artie’s wheel chair and she notices that he is grinning. “What?”

“What what?”

“Why are you all…?” She imitates his grin and points to her mouth.

“I’m really excited to be here!”

“I had to beg you and Mike to come,” Tina says, glaring at him suspiciously.

“Did you ever buy a fedora and a black trench coat so you can turn into that vampire spy detective?”

“You’re making me heavily consider it,” she pokes him hard in the chest before opening the door for Artie.

The store is devoid of all the smaller instruments with the larger things left cluttered to the sides to make room for a small platform, where Sam is sitting on a bench playing his guitar, and the tables where a small crowd is sitting, and a table laden with snacks and drinks. To Blaine’s surprise Quinn is sitting behind the table grinning happily at Sam, who is speaking to his small audience. “I’m thinking about making this a regular thing. I don’t know, turn the store into this little music club every once and a while. Maybe get a bartender and a caterer.”

“And Karaoke.” Artie says jokingly.

“Maybe Karaoke on the nights we don’t have someone preforming,” Tina says as she looks around her store. “I could probably still sell some things, too. I’m a genius. Blaine can play some of our pianos and maybe the rich parents will buy their kids some pianos to practice so they can become true pianists.”

“I can’t decide if it’s your goal to culture the community or make a lot of money,” Blaine whispers as they make their way behind the small crowd of people.

Blaine notices that Michael is still in Tina’s office and sends a small smile to Tina and Artie before leaving them so he can finish the conversation he was having with Michael without any disturbances. Blaine quietly shuts the door behind him, not wanting to wake Andrea, and turns around to face the darkness of the office. He peers up at Michael who is standing near the couch where Andrea is sleeping and staring back at him. The light from the door window is only strong enough to catch the silhouette of Michael’s grin.

“Hi,” Blaine whispers.

“Hello,” Michael returns just as low as Blaine slowly makes his way towards him.

“Where were we?”

“I think I was about to kiss you,” its Michael’s turn to tug Blaine in by his shirt.

“No.”

“What?”

“ _I_ was about to kiss _you_.”

Michael scoffs. “Semantics.”

Blaine is a little bit shorter than Michael and so he has to arch up a little to press his lips lightly against Michael’s. All feeling he is capable of having is taken by the kiss. It feels like all of his nerve-endings are in his lips so the soft return of Michael’s lips is all he wants to feel. When Blaine reaches his hands up to Michael’s neck he feels the soft texture of fabric switch to hot skin and all sensation moves from his fingers to his lips until he feels both just as strong. Then Michael’s tongue swiped carelessly over Blaine’s bottom lip and he was lost. He only pulls away to draw in a long breath before pushing his mouth back over Michael’s. He’s never felt a kiss like this, so full of sensory and emotional motivation.

He is so enveloped in their kiss that he doesn’t notice the stream of light that is now pouring over them from the office door being opened. They only pull away from each other when someone whistles lowly. Blinking and dazed, Blaine looks around to see that a majority of the party watching them while Brittany holds the door open with a proud smile. Blaine’s eyes trail over to Tina to see her beaming and holding a hand over her heart while the other hand rests on Artie’s shoulder. Much to his surprise, Michael buries his face against Blaine’s neck in embarrassment.

“There is a child sleeping in here, Brittany,” Blaine says in a stage whisper, grinning mischievously. “Don’t wake her up.” He gestures for her to shut the door. After sticking out her tongue, Brittany complies. He ignores the laughter behind the door and turns back to stroke Michael’s hair happily as the latter chuckles against his neck.

“That’s not exactly how I wanted everyone that I know to find out,” Michael says, still laughing as he pulls away.

“Find out what?” Blaine replies archly.

“That you have brainwashed me,” Michael says before pressing his lips lightly against Blaine’s.

“Oh yeah, but you should know my brainwashing skills only work on the simple-minded,” Blaine winks and kisses Michael back.

He feels someone pull on his shirt and looks down to see Andrea glaring at the two of them. She signs that she has been asking them for a glass of water but that have been too busy being gross to notice her. They both chuckle and its Blaine’s turn to feel embarrassed, she is his student after all. He sure the last thing she wants to see is her teacher making out with her dad. Blaine’s worries lessen when she grins at them.

Michael signs that he’ll give her some punch instead and the three of them exit Tina’s office quietly. Blaine and Michael brace themselves for awkwardness, but end up stepping into the soft crooning atmosphere of a ballad by Sam.

They don’t need to do much sneaking because everyone there is focusing adamantly on Sam. It’s then that Blaine notices Sam is staring at Quinn as he sings about the warmth of summer being found in the smile of a blonde. It all falls into place when Blaine’s sees Quinn’s bashful reaction as she holds Gabe on her lap and avoids looking at Sam. Quinn was the girl that Sam was in love with. Mystery solved, Tina will be proud of his amazing deduction skills. No wonder Sam seemed to upset when he mentioned that he was in love with someone else.

When Andrea is sitting happily on Artie’s lap with her cup of punch, Michael and Blaine sit down near the back of the room and hold hands. He’s a bit surprised when Quinn makes her way over to them after Sam finishes the ballad. Blaine looks around for her son to see that he is proudly standing behind the snack table, ready to serve the hungry and thirsty.

“Hey, Mr. Anderson,” Quinn says, as she sits down on the other side of him.

“You can call me Blaine,” he smiles nervously. “And this is Michael.”

She greets Michael with a simple nod before turning back to Blaine. “Listen, Blaine, I wanted to ask you something. Actually I wanted to tell you something.”

Blaine stiffens. “Listen I didn-”

“I’m guess you know about Taylor and I getting divorced,” Quinn seems like she isn’t going to let him explain himself, he can feel Michael awkwardly shifting next to him but still holding his hand. “Let me just get to the point. You were Gabe’s teacher the year that I was working on getting promoted at work so I could never pick him up from school and rarely went to his school activities. Taylor has tried using that against me in our custody hearing. I just wanted you to know that if you help him out with this he might have a good case against me.” Michael’s grip is so tight on his hand that he can’t feel the tips of his fingers.

“Uhm,” Blaine bites down on his lip, a flood of confusion and anger seep through him until Michael loosens his grip and rubs a thumb over the back of his hand in comfort. “You should know that I would never do that to you or your son. Taylor already…tried to asking me something like that, I think.” This was definitely the most eventful day in Blaine’s life. “Actually, there is something I need to tell you and I think it might help your case?” Michael’s grip is tight again, but Blaine moves his hand and pats him on the arm. “Michael, can you-” Before he can finish Michael is nodding and standing up. He places a small kiss on Blaine’s cheek before moving away toward Andrea, Tina, and Artie.

As he explains the situation he is fearful that she is going to go crazy eyes on him the way she almost did at their parent-teacher conference but she is surprisingly calm as she listens to his long and constantly apologetic explanation. When she speaks it’s soft and controlled. When she asks if he would speak up if it came to it he says that it would be the least he could do and she smiles more sincerely at him. He feels the relief of getting the mess entirely off his shoulders, but the guilt is still kind of there slowly evaporating in the depths of him.

Blaine, feeling blissfully tired from the day’s events, ends up resting his head on Michael’s shoulder. By the time they’re back in the car Michael has Blaine leaning on one shoulder while Andrea leans on the other side, both sleepy and pleased.

“About time, Mike,” Tina says as they’re driving home. Blaine keeps his eyes closed even so they don’t have to know that he’s still awake.

“Hey, you know I’m not good at this.”

“And neither is Blaine.”

“I can hear you.” Blaine mutters and the rest of them laugh.

 

When they get back to their house, Michael pointedly walks Blaine to his car and explains that he can take the couch if he’s too tired to drive, which Blaine understands. “No, it’s fine. I’m awake enough to drive, okay?” Blaine smiles warmly as he unlocks the door to his car. “I’ll see you again tomorrow right?” He says, leaning on his open door and feeling very much like a teenage boy with a stupid grin. The way Michael blushes and looks away momentarily makes him feel like he’s momentarily in a rom-com.

“Duh,” Michael responds, rolling his eyes. Blaine pushes his arm lightly, their laughter rings through the empty streets.

“So,” Blaine says in the “manliest” tone he can muster. “You wanna go out some time, maybe see a movie. We could go to make-out point or something whatever man, no big deal if you don’t want to.”  
Michael shakes his head in disbelief and steps closer to Blaine. “Getting dating advice from your students?”

“No, that’s the advice I give them,” Blaine replies with a smirk. “They’re too young to know how to sweet talk.”

“You’re contribution to our future generations is great,” Michael says before giving Blaine a brief kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Blaine gets a hold on Michael’s tie before the latter can back away and pulls him into another kiss, this one longer. He tries to put all he is feeling into the kiss and thinks he might be successful when he sees the smile on Michael’s face when he pulls away. “Tomorrow then.” They stand there for a few long moments smiling at each other before they both chuckle. Blaine makes sure to give Michael one last kiss before ducking into his car.


	3. Part Three

They take their relationship pretty slowly. This doesn’t surprise Blaine because Michael hasn’t had a relationship with more than one person…ever. It also helps Blaine get used to the idea that Michael is actually dating him and that he’s allowed to touch and kiss him. For the first two weeks he feels surreal and even after that he as bouts of comfortable jitters when Michael so much at smiles at him. Blaine is confident enough to know that Michael feels the same way whenever Blaine catches him staring.

After an entire summer of dating Michael, Blaine has to admit that he’s kind of frustrated. _Sexually_ frustrated.  At first he was totally cool with waiting to have sex because he wasn’t entirely comfortable with it due to his previous experience with Taylor and Michael being such a completely different person than him. Not to mention that Blaine was constantly worried that Michael would stand up one day and realize that Blaine was just a rebound from a tragic love story. But after three months of cold showers, he was starting to feel like a hormonal teenager. At this point he thinks it is never going to happen.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise to him when Michael awkwardly rubs the back of his neck and asks if Blaine wants to come back to his place before mentioning the fact that Tina and Andrea are away visiting Tina’s mother for the entire weekend.

They are eating dinner at a local restaurant a few blocks away from Michael’s place, in a lazy swat at celebrating the fact that Blaine just got asked by the PTA to teach an ASL class, and Blaine is just finishing up his meal when Michael asks. He drops his napkin in surprise while Michael’s face turned bright red.

“Yeah, I mean,” he stand ups, forgetting that the check hasn’t paid, and ends up knocking the table with his knee. “Forget ordering dessert.”

Michael looks momentarily baffled before he stands up quickly as well. Blaine ends up paying for their dinner by throwing all the money that is in his wallet onto the table. They are both surprised to be accosted by sheets of warm summer rain when they stumble out of the restaurant.

“We should have taken a car,” Blaine calls out over the rain as he attempts to pull his jacket over his already soaked hair.

“We only have to walk like three blocks,” Michael says as he picks at the center of his shirt. His shirt is light so Blaine can see all the glorious flesh under the wet fabric.

“Okay, so we’re not going to let the rain distract us from our prime objective,” he responds sternly as he takes Michael’s hand and marches down the puddle-ridden sidewalk. Michael stumbles forward so his chest his against Blaine’s back and his laugh is hot on Blaine’s neck that he shivers. They only make it a half a block before Blaine is turning around and pulling Michael into a strong kiss. He ends up pushing Michael against a nearby building in his haste.

“Holy fuck-”Michael starts when they pull away for breath. The rain his flattening his dark hair over his forehead, his lips are red and turned up in a huge grin. “If I would have known that you-fuck-would react that way I would have asked a long time ago.” Blaine looks momentarily baffled before Michael is dragging him back onto the sidewalk.

“Excuse me,” Blaine calls out, trailing behind Michael as he practically jogs toward their destination. “Are you telling me that this could have happened months ago?” He reaches a hand up to brush the curls away from his forehead. It is a useless feat because it keeps getting matted down by the rain as they rush down another sidewalk. Almost there.

“Don’t give me that tone, Blaine,” Michael calls back.

“I’ll give you whatever tone I want, Michael Robert Chang Jr.” Blaine says in the same tone when they reach their destination. Michael shakes his head as he shakily tries to unlock the door.

When they get inside their discussion continues when they enter the apartment. Blaine his shaking with anxious need, it’s clear that Michael has the same need as he surprises Blaine by pushing him against the closed door. “You could have said something too, you know.” He swallows and Blaine watches his adams apple move with the motion.

Blaine stares up at him with gaping awe before it turns into an unbelieving grin. “We are the worst at communication.”

They don’t really have time to laugh at themselves. It seems to be a mutual consensus that they shouldn’t waste any more time.-Blaine’s hands end up in Michael’s wet hair as they kiss against the door. The muted sound of rain is thrumming in the background, it hits against the pavement and the metal roofs and awnings and plays in rhythm with Blaine’s eager and frantic fingers that move from Michael’s hair down to the collar of his shirt.

Blaine lets out a low moan when Michael moves his mouth to his throat. Normally he would be internally upset because whenever Michael gets near his neck he gets incredibly aroused, but it’s not really a problem right now because, for once, that’s their goal. He puts his hands back in Michael’s hair as his neck all the attention he wants.

“Oh my god,” Blaine says, thrusting his hips forward. Michael reacts positively to that and pushes back with his own hips until the two of them are frotting against each other. He feels the flex of the muscles in Michael’s back as his hands run down it, his neck arching upward to give Michael’s mouth more room to roam. He imagines that if Michael’s leg wasn’t injured that now would be the opportune time to literally jump him.

“We should probably get out of these clothes before one of us gets sick.” Michael breathes against the now red flesh of Blaine’s neck.

“Well that’s one of many good reasons we shouldn’t be wearing clothing right now,” he can’t help but agree, his pants are also way to tight for their current situation.

They stumble some more toward the small room where the washer and dryer were, Blaine was always jealous that they had their own set when he had to go to the laundry mat—that was at least until Michael offered to wash and dry his clothes for him. It was a bit of an awkward situation as they individually peeled their soaking clothes off until they were down to their underwear. Blaine blushes at the sight of Michael so naked as he shoved their clothes into the dryer and started it. Of course they have taken things far enough that Blaine wasn’t a complete stranger to Michael’s torso, but the legs were new. They look strong enough to make Blaine shudder as he leans against the washer, and he has to swallow back a small whimper. Michael looks up as Blaine squirms and a pleased smirk crosses his lips before his hands are on Blaine’s waist and he is lifting Blaine up onto the moving dryer. It wasn’t too big of a feat, Blaine was pretty small and Michael wasn’t weak, bad leg or not.

He finally gets his legs wrapped around Michael’s waist and they start moving together against the steady beat of the dryer. Soon enough Michael has his fingers hooked around the waist-band of Blaine’s underwear and is gently tugging them down as they kiss and move against each other. He has to unhook his legs so they can both assist in getting his underwear completely off, and before they can get close again Blaine tugs Michael’s underwear down as well. And finally they’re naked against each other and it’s exactly everything Blaine wanted it to be.

With the humming of the machine under him and the pleasant friction of skin on skin, Blaine feels his entire body tremble pleasantly under Michael’s grasp.

When they decide to move their escapades to the bedroom Michael trips a few times to fully get out of his boxers while still holding on to Blaine’s tugging hand. They end up laughing for a few moments before finally retreating up the stairs, stopping occasionally to defile a few steps with a few short but adventurous make-outs and a half-assed blow job.

They do eventually make it too Michael’s bed when they are faced with a small dilemma.

“So,” Michael says as he hovers over Blaine. “How are we going to do this?”

“Uhm.” Blaine licks his lips and Michael’s eyes follow the motion. “I want you.”

“In what way?”

“In all the ways?”

“Well, I can’t fuck you and blow you at the same time, I’m not that flexible.”

Blaine scoffs and pulls Michael closer to him so they can kiss again, their breaths heavy against each other as their flesh moves slowly together.  The night carries on with small teasings and some of the best sexual experiences Blaine has ever had. With Michael, a man he loves so dearly, every touch is a burst of emotional and sensual sensation. Finally being able to be connected with him in such a physical way causes Blaine’s mind to run with numb ecstasy. It’s not surprising how good Michael is at making Blaine sweat and groan and whimper with every expert thrust into him and when they are done with their second round Blaine speaks out a mental note to praise the gods that made Michael’s hips, to which Michael responds with, “my parents are coming to visit in a few months, you can meet them then. But it should be known that it took a lot of work to get my hips to move that way-” Blaine puts his finger over Michael’s lips and shakes his head.

“No, no. I refuse to believe that you weren’t born with the talent of hip movement.” Michael ends up kissing his finger and sitting up. “No, where are you going? Stay here and be exhausted with me. You’re not allowed to have so much stamina.” He groans out as he pushes his head further into the pillow beneath it. Michael is in the bathroom when he responds.

“I’m getting something to clean up.”

“No, we are not going to clean up,” Blaine says, already feeling the euphoria drain him into grogginess, his eyelids heavy. “One more round. This time I’m on top. Or,” yawning, “maybe tomorrow morning.” He wakes up a little when a cold texture touches his stomach as Michael cleans him up. He smiles a mumbles a quiet and appreciative, “I love you.” His eyes shoot open. That was one of the other things they haven’t gotten around to doing and he suddenly feels nervous when Michael tenses. But Blaine rests his head back and closes his eyes when he sees a small and pleased smile on Michael’s face, the outline of his face a clear profile against the combined light of the moon and the hallway light.

When he wakes up with Michael’s body hot against his in the summer morning he wiggles a bit to get out of the furnace of his boyfriend’s arms. Michael stirs enough to let Blaine out of his grip, a teasing smile on his lips to signify that he is clearly awake. “I’m going to take a shower, Michael.” Blaine says tersely.

“Didn’t clean you up well enough last night?” Michael says calmly, his eyes still closed.

“You did, I’m just all sweaty because apparently you think you’re my blanket.”

“You didn’t spend an entire night having sex with a blanket, Blaine.” He finally opens his eyes and beams up at him in such a way that Blaine feels his entire body feel lightly dazed before he comes back to reality when Michael says. “Didn’t you promise me something last night? I’m pretty sure you said you were going to get some morning top.” He winks and Blaine leans down to kiss him lightly on the lips. This action seems to surprise Michael but he quickly returns the kiss. When Blaine pulls away he rubs a hand through his now curly and free hair.

“Maybe midday sex, right now I need to shower.” He kisses Michael again and heads toward the bathroom. He grins to himself, remembering everything from the night before so clearly that it sends a shudder through him, he would definitely love a repeat soon.

“Hey Blaine,” Michael’s voice sounds suddenly serious so Blaine turns around at the door. Mike’s lips are turned up into his “I-got-a-sercret-I’m-actually-really-adorable-shh-don’t-tell-anyone” smile that pinches up one of his dimples as he says, “I love you too.” Blaine would definitely love a repeat of that too. 


End file.
